The Prophecy of Five
by MrsLoganLerman25
Summary: Five friends at a New York school suddenly discover that they are half-bloods, by way of a two-headed snake. Their destiny is written in the stars...
1. Chapter 1: The Discovery

Hello! This is my first fan-fiction and I'm not very good, so bear with me please! Also, I so do not own any of the Percy Jackson books or characters. This is my plot and characters so don't steal them! Or I will hunt you down and kill you. With an icicle. Thanks, hope you like it! :)

Friday morning in the library of The Hampton School of Arts

"Hey guys!" I said as I ran up to my friends.

"Hi Marina!" They chorused back, staring at something in the middle of their little table in the middle of the library.

I stopped running and walked slowly towards them, taking a moment to look at them all. Delilah, or Lilah, was slightly swaying side to side, with her light-brown hair swishing around her face. Her blue eyes glinted with excitement. To her right was Autumn, who had long brown hair, blue eyes, and the best complexion around. It just wasn't fair. On Autumn's right was Eliana, Ellie for short. She was the smallest of our group, but the most noticeable with her brown hair dip-died purple. Her blue eyes were shining with laughter, as she pointed to whatever that was in the middle. Lastly, on Ellie's right was Umitoni, or Toni. Toni is African-American, and you can always find her long black hair in a braid. Her golden-brown eyes are almost always focused on some small mechanical device that she takes apart and puts back together. And then there's me. I'm the tallest with long curly black hair that I pin back on one side with a barrette. I have sea-green eyes that change slightly with my mood.

I finally reached them and demanded, "What are you looking at? You didn't properly greet me!"

Lilah, looking a little ashamed, skipped to my side and gave me a hug. "Welcome sister!"

I rolled my eyes as I hugged her back. "That's more like it."

Then, of course, it turned into a group hug, where I was the middle. "Guys! Can't breathe!" I gasped.

"Sorry!" They winced, letting their death grip on me loosen.

Then Autumn spoke up. "Look what I was given by Mrs. Hofmeister!"

"What is it?" I asked, confused. Nothing Mrs. Hofmeister would give us could be good. She was reputed to be the worst headmistress in the whole tri-state area in New York. And we aren't even native New Yorkers! We all are Minnesotans

"Apparently, there's going to be a new RICH student coming here, and they are throwing a party for his arrival! And the whole school is invited!" squealed Ellie and Autumn.

I raised my eyebrows at Toni. "Ookay?"

She shrugged. "I don't really know. I just smiled and nodded."

Ahh... Smart!" I winked at Toni

"Hey! I heard that!" Autumn said, giving me a slight punch to the arm.

"Aw! You know I love you!" We grinned at her.

Autumn gave us one last glare before including us in her discussion. "So, the party is formal and that means dress and shoe shopping everyone!"

"Oh no," we groaned. Letting Autumn shop was scary.

"Well, we could make an adventure out of it," offered Ellie.

We shared a 4-way glance. Ellie's ideas normally ended up dangerous.

Saturday at the mall

"ELLIE! You weren't supposed to tell the poor guy!" Lilah giggled, her hand clamped over her mouth.

"Well, how was I supposed to know," huffed Ellie, affronted.

"The damage is done guys. I'm never going to be able to shop in this store again," sighed Autumn.

We all walked quickly to the door, avoiding each others glances. Once we were free of the clerk's hurt gaze, we flopped down on a bench in the middle of the mall.

"It's okay, we got the dresses," I reassured her. "Now all we need are shoes."

The store in question, I won't reveal its name, was Autumn's favorite for dresses.

"Well, there's always Payless, I guess," shrugged Autumn.

We all groaned. Payless was on the other side of the mall. Just then, I heard a train whistle. I turned to my friends with a huge grin plastered on my face.

"What are you thinking..." asked Lilah warily.

"Let's ride the train to Payless!" I shouted, jumping up from my seat on the bench.

Ellie gasped. "Let's do it!" she squealed.

Toni shrugged. "Why not? Beats walking."

Autumn and Lilah were still on the fence. "But...but...in a mall?"

All of a sudden, the train came into view. It wasn't too big, just large enough for me to fit in one of the cars.

"Pleeaasse? I haven't even been on a train before," I begged, kneeling in front of them.

"Oh, fine," they grumbled.

I signaled the train to stop. "Do you go past Payless by any chance?" I asked the conductor.

He raised his eyebrows. "Yes," he said, confused, like, "Why would 5 teenagers want to know if I go past Payless?"

"Awesome! You just picked up 5 new passengers!" Ellie exalted, climbing into a train car.

We quickly followed and made train sounds the entire way to Payless. Honestly, I think the conductor was glad to be rid of us. Who knows, though! We were probably the most interesting passengers he's ever had.

As we walked into Payless, Autumn squealed. "Look at those shoes! They are PERFECT!"

We stare at her as she flips out over her deep red heels.

"Okay..." Toni said, backing away a little.

Autumn glared at her. "Hey. Go find some black heels. Now."

Toni nodded sharply, saluted her, and turned on her heel to find some black heels.

"Ellie, you too," Autumn said, motioning with her head to follow Toni.

Ellie also saluted Autumn and then proceeded to skip over to Toni. We watched her grab the biggest heels and try them on. She stood up, walked towards us and then promptly fell flat on her face.

"Omigosh! Are you okay?" Lilah and I asked as we rushed to her prone figure on the floor, as Autumn started laughing.

"Uh...can I just die now?" groaned Ellie.

"I give you...a 10!" we heard Autumn shout while clapping.

Toni slipped the stilettos off of Ellie's feet. "Yeah, these are a no."

"What were you thinking, wearing those huge shoes? You know you have horrible balance," Lilah pointed out.

"And why is Autumn clapping?" I asked, pointing an accusing finger at her.

"Yeah. Why are you laughing at me?" asked Ellie, propping herself up on an elbow.

Autumn kept laughing, oblivious to Ellie's question. We stared at her until she realized that we were.

"What?" she asked, finally calming down.

"Why were you laughing so hard? And only a ten? I thought I deserved at least an eleven," Ellie said, sitting up.

"The look on your face was priceless!" giggled Autumn. "Whomp! Down you went!"

"Whomp? I thought it was more of a thunk," said Toni thoughtfully.

"No, you're both wrong. It was a thump," disagreed Ellie.

I raised my eyebrows at Lilah. Why were they discussing this?

Lilah shrugged and then whispered to me, "They're crazy. Who knows?"

I nodded. It was true, they were crazy.

After a few more minutes, Lilah clapped her hands together. "Time to go back to looking for shoes."

Ellie groaned, Toni sighed, and Autumn raised her fist in the air, "Yes!"

Autumn gave us directions after some thought and looking back at our dresses.

"Ellie, look for black or purple heels, but not to high," she cautioned. "Toni, still black heels, Lilah, silver ones. And Marina...hmm...silver or black I guess."

"Aye aye, Captain!" I said, following Toni.

Autumn grinned and then turned to help Lilah find some silver shoes.

Finally, we all had our shoes picked and checked out. Lilah found some silver heels, Ellie found purple ones, Toni and I both got black pairs, and Autumn ended up with her red ones.

"Where to next?" I asked to anyone.

"FOOD!" yelled Ellie. "I'm so HUNGRY!"

As one, we rolled our eyes. Ellie was always hungry. She had hollow legs and could just keep eating. Once, when we were at Lilah's for a sleepover, Ellie ate 10 pancakes by herself!

Lilah shook her head. "Nope! Time to go to my house, my dad's making pasta for lunch."

Ellie's eyes widened. "PASTA!" she yelled, jumping up and down. "Let's go now!"

Lilah shrugged. "Fine by me!"

Autumn smiled. "Well, we found all of our stuff! So let's go!"

Ellie cheered and raced off to the car.

"Uh, Ellie? That's the wrong way..." I said, starting to where the car actually was parked. "It's this way."

"Oh. Sorry," Ellie said, her head hanging. A moment later she was blowing past us yelling, "Last one to the car is a rotten egg!"

Autumn gasped and sprinted after her. "No fair!"

I sauntered after saying, "I've got the KEYS."

Toni and Lilah laughed with me. They were going to be locked out!

Getting ready

"Time for the party!" sang Autumn, twirling around in her sparkly red dress.

Ellie, coming out of the bathroom in her purple dress, grabbed her arm and together they danced the tango, with Toni humming the music. Lilah rolled her eyes and dashed into the bathroom.

"My turn to change!" she yelled.

I presented myself to Toni. "May I have this dance?"

Toni bowed, her gold dress shining in the light. "Of course!"

And so we danced. Or, at least until Lilah came out of the bathroom.

"Lilah! Hurry up!" I called, still dancing with Toni.

"I'm hurrying," she grumbled, finally coming out, straightening her silver dress embroidered with flowers.

I smiled sweetly. "Thank you! You're the best! And here's your partner!" I said, as I twirled Toni to Lilah. "Good luck!"

I grabbed my blue-green dress out of the bag and ran to the bathroom. I quickly changed, shimmying into the silky fabric. Then, I applied makeup sparsely, not knowing how much I should use. I looked in the mirror to inspect myself. I shrugged. Looks good to me!

I came out looking for my shoes and came up empty. That's when I realized I was alone. I heard voices downstairs and knew that they were either planning a mutiny or hiding my shoes. I went with the latter.

I held my dress up with one hand and the other held onto the railing as I counted the stairs. "5 6 7...7 8 9!"

"What are you doing?" I demanded, standing in front of them.

"Trying to find our shoes..." they replied, looking around.

"Huh. Yours too?" I asked, peering around.

All of a sudden, Lilah's face paled. "Cailey," she whispered.

Cailey is Lilah's notorious dog. She steals shoes, socks, anything she can get her paws on.

We give a concerned 5-way glance and then, as one, we rush up the stairs.

"DAD! Does Cailey have our shoes?" asked Lilah, panicked. If Cailey had our shoes...

Lilah's dad looked at us funnily. "I put them in the closet so Cailey wouldn't get them."

"Whew!" we sighed, relieved.

We got our shoes and then posed for a couple pictures.

"Bye!" we waved as we climbed into my car.

"Drive safe!" Lilah's dad called after us.

I cranked the radio and we sang until we got to the school. As I pulled in, we stared at the amount of cars.

"Well, this kid sure is popular," commented Toni.

As I locked my car, we walked to the party-carefully. With our luck, we'd all fall.

We got to the ticket booth and handed the guy our tickets. He stamped them and gave them back with a wink, "Have fun ladies."

We smiled nervously at him and walked away.

"He was just like France from Hetalia!" Ellie muttered to us, as we were trying to find a table.

"Hey! Over here!" a friendly voice yelled.

I jumped and turned while everyone else just turned around.

"Hi Beech!" I called, relieved.

We made our way over to our friend. Beech is on the scrawny side with sandy colored hair. He had a black suit on and was waving energetically at us.

"I didn't know you were coming!" Ellie yelled, hugging him.

Beech blushed and muttered,

"Yeah."

Beech, if you haven't noticed, is very shy and Ellie likes to invade his personal space. Because it's Ellie. And Ellie is special. We sat down around the table and watched people come in, making stories about them. It was very entertaining, especially with Lilah. When we all had apparently arrived, a tall dark man in a suit stood on a platform to speak.

"Welcome. We are so glad you could make it here tonight to celebrate Jackson's arrival..."

I tuned out after that. It was all thank you's and boring stuff like that. So, instead, our table concentrated on dancing in our chairs and singing under our breaths to either One Direction, Justice Crew, or The Wanted.

"Thank you for listening. May the party begin!" he said as he stepped down from the platform.

We cheered silently at our table. The DJ started off with a slow dance, lucky us! We just practiced this!

I got up and bowed to Toni. Autumn did the same to Lilah and Ellie did it to Beech. Toni took my hand and we danced the waltz along with Autumn and Lilah and Ellie and Beech. We got some weird looks, but we're used to that. Once the song was over, we stayed and danced (normally) to a couple more songs before we sat back down. Halfway through the party, we were served cake.

"Cake!" Ellie gasped, digging in.

We grinned. Hooray for cake! It was marble and very tasty. That was when a boy of medium height, blond-ish hair and blue eyes stepped up to the platform.

"Hello," he began hesitantly. "My name is Jackson."

Utter silence followed his words.

He smiled then. He had very white teeth. "I'm very happy you all toke the time to welcome me here. I'm excited to be learning here and I'm sure we will become great friends," he then exited the platform and stood in the middle of the dance floor. "I would like to show you my pet lizard. Her name is ChiChi and she's very sensitive to loud noises, so please be quiet."

Then a large man with what I assumed was the lizard, came to stand by Jackson. "Here she is," Jackson said proudly, holding a leash hat was attached to a large lizard.

Beech gasped, and moved in front of our view.

"Beech," I frowned. "You make a better door than window."

"No! It can't be!" he muttered, looking around frantically. Then his eyes landed on the five of us and his eyes widened. "No! No!"

"Beech, what's wrong?" asked Lilah, her brow furrowed.

"Nothing," he stuttered.

Ellie frowned. "Then why are you blocking our view of the lizard?"

Beech opened his mouth and then closed it. "It's not what it appears to be," he warned quietly.

Autumn shrugged. "I just want to see the lizard," she said, pushing Beech away.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

When he moved away, what we saw wasn't a lizard. It wasn't even a snake.

"Ohmigosh," Lilah said, backing up into Autumn.

It was a two-headed snake, an Amphisbaenia from Greek mythology. All what we thought was true, was wrong.


	2. Chapter 2: The Trip

Hello! Here is chapter 2 in my Percy Jackson fanfiction! I hope you like it!

At the dance, with Jackson on the dance floor with his pet lizard

Toni whispered, "What is that thing?"

"It's an Amphisbaenia, a Greek two-headed snake," I whispered back, loud enough so all my friends could hear.

In spite of all that was going on, Autumn still had the time to the incredulously at me. "And how do you know that?"

"I read?" I asked, putting my hands up questioningly.

"Can we not worry about how Marina knows what the stupid thing is called and concentrate on killing it?!" yelped Ellie, clutching Toni's arm and hiding behind her.

"Do you happen to know if anyone killed it in Greek mythology?" asked Lilah hopefully, staring at the Amphisbaenia with wide eyes.

I racked my brain. "Nope. All I know is that Perseus made this monster. When he cut off Medusa's head and he flew away with it, the gorgon's blood dripped down to the sand and bam! Amphisbaenia was born!"

"That's not very helpful," Ellie complained.

"Wait a minute. Are we the only people that know its an Amphisbaenia? No one else is freaking out," noticed Toni.

We turned to Beech. "What's going on?" I asked suspiciously.

He gulped. "You're half-bloods. Half mortal, half Greek god."

He looked about as stunned as we felt.

Then Autumn laughed. "Us? Half god? We aren't even recognized in school! How can WE be half god?"

"I don't know!" Beech shouted, grabbing his head. "I should've been able to smell you as half-bloods. Five of you in one place? Without one getting killed? For several MONTHS?!"

We backed up a half a step. "Beech, calm down. How can we beat that thing without getting caught?" Lilah said soothingly.

"Could we just leave?" asked Ellie hopefully.

I shook my head, answering for Beech. "If we are what Beech says we are, that's probably what they're looking for, people who are freaked out by what they see and then leave because of it."

"So...what can we do?" asked Toni, trying to get out of Ellie's death grip.

"I don't know," Beech said softly. "I'm only a junior protector."

"Well, we can't just stand here waiting for that snakey thing to eat us!" Ellie yelled, attracting stares from the people around us.

"It's okay, she's afraid of sn-lizards," Lilah explained, putting her hand over Ellie's mouth.

They shrugged and turned back to "the lizard".

"Ellie! Keep your voice down!" Lilah scolded, taking her hand off her mouth.

"Sorry," Ellie whispered. "What should we do?"

"Beech? What do you think we should do?" I asked, hoping for a better answer than last time. "And if we are half-blood like you say, what are you?"

"Satyr. I'm a satyr," Beech said, perking up a little.

"Really? Cool," said Toni, impressed, giving up on freeing her arm from Ellie's grasp.

"Yeah," Beech replied, his eyes brighter.

"Come ON! Let's get a plan together!" Ellie complained.

Autumn raised her eyebrows. "Um, why don't you figure out a plan?"

Ellie frowned, thinking. "Why not wait until the amphi-thingy goes away and then leave?"

We all look at her.

"Good idea," I said, surprised. Normally Ellie's ideas ended up with us somehow in trouble. Like in the mall. Ellie just went up to him, thinking he was a girl. No, he was not.

"And if someone stops us, we can just say that I'm sick!" Ellie beamed at us, really getting into it.

Lilah nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me."

Autumn shook her head. "whatever. As long as we get away from that thing," she shuddered.

Toni glanced down at her arm, with Ellie still on it. "Can we go soon? I'm starting to lose feeling in my arm..."

My friends looked at me. I'm the only one who's not afraid of snakes. "Fine," I sighed, peering over everyone's heads.

"They are leading ChiChi away," I said, coming back down from the balls of my feet.

"Who the flip is ChiChi?" asked Lilah, bewildered.

"The amphisbaenia," I replied, confused. Was she not listening to Jackson when he announced who his snake was?

"What are you talking about? It's Spot," she said, looking to the others for confirmation.

"I heard ChouChou," Autumn said, looking to Ellie.

Ellie stared at her. "You know I don't pay attention. Why ask?"

We all open our mouths to argue. "Yeah, you're right," Autumn admitted.

Beech swallowed. "Can get going? Satyrs don't like snakes and snakes don't like satyrs."

"Yeah," I said, grabbing my stuff. "Let's make like a pearl and roll!"

Autumn muttered to herself. Probably about my saying...oh well! We grabbed our stuff and started heading to the door. When we were stopped. Of course. Lilah poked Ellie. Who gave her an evil look until she remembered her part. Then she doubled over, gagging.

The huge guard glared at us. "What are you doing? You are not allowed to leave until Mr. Bergren has."

"Mr. who know?" Toni asked, "holding" up Ellie.

"Mr. Bergren," the guard said with disbelief. "The reason that you are here tonight."

Autumn snaps her fingers. "Jackson? Gotcha."

The guard sighs. "Yes, Jackson. You are not allowed to leave before him."

"But our friend is sick," I explained, gesturing to Ellie who was still making retching noises.

The guard raised his eyebrows and stepped back a half a step. "And why would I believe you?"

Toni, looking up from supporting Ellie. "And why would you take that chance?"

The guard nodded. "Good point," stepping back to let us through.

We shuffled as fast as we could through the door with Ellie still hunched over.

"Thank you," I heard Lilah whisper to the guard. I was surprised, she doesn't talk to strangers unless the situation requires it. And I mean requires it.

Once in the shadows of the building, Ellie straightened up. "Uh...remind me never to do that again," she groaned.

"You volunteered," Lilah pointed out.

Beech peered around anxiously. "Car! Let's go to the car!"

"Beech? Are you okay?" I asked worriedly. If Beech spazzed out on us...

"Hm? I'm fine. There are things in the dark, that's all," he shivered.

Ellie's eyes widened. "What kind of things?"

Lilah frowned at Beech. "You didn't have to tell her that."

He shrugged. "She would have found out anyway."

"Kay, let's just go to the car," I said as I dragged Lilah towards the car. Lilah could get scary in a fight.

As we piled in my car, a blue Ford Taurus, I asked Beech where we were going.

"I'll only give directions when needed," was my vague reply.

Inwardly, I groaned. I hated getting directions on the go. After I pulled onto the road, I glanced at Beech. "Where to now?"

"Left at the lights."

Autumn, rearranging her dress, asked when we were going to get there.

"About 2 hours. We go over the bridge," Beech explained.

Ellie sighed. "Music?" she asked.

Lilah nodded enthusiastically. "The Wanted!"

Ellie glared at her. "No. One Direction!" she shouted.

Autumn held her hands up. "I know how to solve this. We listen to Justice Crew."

Which started World War III, with Toni in the squished on the side. I solved their war by putting Josh Turner on max volume. They covered their ears and I grinned at them through the rearview mirror.

"Now that's how you solve World War III," I said triumphantly, between song breaks.

An hour later, Beech finally said to turn on the bridge to Long Island.

"Finally," Ellie moaned from her position on Lilah's shoulder.

"You should talk," Lilah said rolling her eyes. "I've got you, Autumn, and Toni on Autumn all leaning against me."

"You don't need the 'got'. I have suffices," I corrected, being the grammar Nazi I am.

"Shut up Marina. It's too late to be smart," mumbled Autumn, eyes still shut.

"Maybe for you, but not for me!" I sang, checking the rearview mirror before turning onto the bridge.

Halfway across the bridge, I noticed a black Hummer seeming to follow us. I changed lanes to make sure, and there they were! I went back to the other lane and so did they.

"Guys? I think we have a tail," I told them, still glancing back at the Hummer.

"Who would be tailing us?" Toni asked, confused.

"Am I the only one who's confused about the whole tail thing? 'Cause I'm pretty sure we don't have a tail," stated a befuddled Ellie, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"Yes," said Autumn, raising her hand.

"A little," Lilah admitted, abashed.

Toni raised an eyebrow to the three people sitting next to her on the bench seat. "That's sad."

I jabbed Beech with my elbow. "Wake up! We're being followed!" I yelled.

Beech jerked awake. "What? Followed? Who? Marina, following people isn't nice," he scolded.

I rolled my eyes. "I know. Why don't you tell the people who are following us that?"

"Us? Being followed? We can't be followed!" he yelped, eyes widening.

"Why not?" asked Lilah.

"Because if they find the camp, they could stake it out and wait for new half-bloods to come and kill them! And then we'd have to fight them off and possibly lose some of our best fighters in the process!" Beech yelled, still freaking out.

"What's in the camp exactly?" Toni wondered out loud.

Beech sighed and muttered to himself. Finally, having apparently solved an internal argument, he told us about the camp. "It's called Camp Half-Blood," he started. "It's a safe place for the offspring of the Greek gods to train."

"Train for what?" interrupted Autumn.

"Trained to kill monsters and survive in the mortal world," Beech continued, unaware that he was interrupted. "Half-bloods are more susceptible to being wounded or killed because they can be killed by both mortal and godly weapons, so training is a must. Some half-bloods are less powerful than others and can avoid detection or just train for a summer. The more powerful half-bloods mostly are discovered early because a monster wants to eat them. Also, when lots of half-bloods are grouped together, it increases their chances of being discovered. As does the use of cell phones. So how you five managed to avoid discovery is beyond me. It shouldn't have been possible."

I shrugged. "Well, we are pretty special. So what do we do about the follower?"

"Food stop?" asked Ellie hopefully. "It's been like two hours!"

"Actually, that's not a bad idea. We'll get time to think about what we have to do about being followed and Ellie gets to eat. What could go wrong?" asked Lilah.

"Well, if we are fleeing from the amphisbaenia, wouldn't it be weird for us to stop and eat?" I pointed out.

"There aren't any restaurants on the Island where we go. We can't stop," Beech said.

"So what are we going to do about our stalkers!?" asked a seriously flipped out Autumn.

"We could always pull over to the side of the road and fake car trouble. And escape through the woods if we are close enough," I remarked thoughtfully.

"Seems like our best bet. It's not as if we are full of ideas," Toni said, a little worriedly. "Do you think they brought the amphisbaenia with?"

I scanned her face and found a very well hidden fear of snakes. "Probably not," I lied. Honestly, I would find it strange if they didn't bring the amphisbaenia. It was a weapon of destruction and I'm sure that they would try and find a reason to use it.

"Okay, there's the end of the bridge. How far until we can pull over?" Lilah said, pointing to the end.

Beech squinted. "Maybe a couple miles. It's not that far if we cut through the woods."

"Then food, right?" asked Ellie, rubbing her stomach.

"Yes Ellie. Then food," I smiled at her. Sometimes Ellie knew just what to say to relieve the tension.

A few minutes later Beech said, "Anywhere along here is good."

"Here goes!" I muttered to myself, making the car "stall". I pulled over to the side of the road with my flashers on. The black Hummer kept going past, but slowly. We got out to "look" at what was wrong. I popped the hood on my car and examined the engine while my friends gradually made their way to the woods. I chanced a look at them and Beech waved at me to join them. I nodded and slammed the hood down. Walking towards the side of the car that faced the woods, I ducked down and ran.

"You made it!" whispered-shouted Lilah, giving me a hug.

"Was there any doubt?" I teased, squeezing her back.

"Let's go," Beech whispered, tugging Autumn and Toni with him deeper into the forest.

Five minutes later, Ellie complained, "Are we there yet?"

"No. Give it 10 more minutes," Beech said, looking back at her.

"Wait," I paused. "Do you hear something?"

Toni stopped and cocked her head. "Nope. I got nuthin'."

"I don't have anything," I corrected. "Are you sure? I hear rustling behind us when we move and when we stop, so does the rustling."

"Huh. Do we have another tail?" asked Autumn quietly.

I looked at everyone. "I think it's the amphisbaenia."

They all flinched. "Are you sure?" wondered Ellie, grabbing Toni's arm again. To which Toni responded with a sigh.

"Why snakes?" whimpered Beech.

"Look, we have to work through this," I said, walking forward slowly. "We have to keep moving; they might suspect something otherwise."

"Kay," they whispered back, walking with me.

"Alright, we need to lose it. Any ideas?" I asked.

"Wait a minute!" Beech perked up. "My girlfriend can help!"

"You have a girlfriend?" gasped Autumn. "No way!"

"Yeah, she's a tree nymph. She and her friends can help us escape!" Beech said excitedly, ignoring the general astonishment that he had a girlfriend.

"And how are they going to help? By beating the snake up with sticks?" snorted Toni.

"No, by transporting us through the air, if one of you distract the snake," Beech said, while touching random trees.

"Why are you touching trees?" asked Lilah. "I mean, I love trees too, but why touch them now?"

"Because some trees are homes to nymphs and I can't remember which ones are," Beech said. "Ah! Found one!"

"Hey!" a high girlish voice complained. "Oh! It's you Beech! You scared me!"

"Oh hi Poplar! Can you and your friends help us?" asked Beech. "And these are my friends, Ellie," he pointed to Ellie who waved with her free arm. "Autumn," who nodded. "Toni," who grimaced and waved. "Lilah," who smiled and looked thrilled that people lived in trees. "And Marina," I smiled and waved.

"Nice to meet you," we chorused to the person that was going to save us from being amphisbaenia food.

Poplar looked surprised. "Hello. Beech, we can't transport them all. One of you will have to stay behind."

"That would be me," I said, stepping up.

"No Marina! You can't stay behind," sobbed Ellie, letting go of Toni to hug me. "Who will make me waffles?"

"It'll be okay," I soothed. "Autumn will make you waffles," giving Autumn an evil glare.

"Yeah, I'll make you waffles," Autumn said, rolling her eyes at me.

"And I'll be gone long enough to distract the amphisbaenia, right?" I asked Poplar.

"Yeah, you should be close enough to the camp for the nymphs there to get you up," Poplar shrugged.

I toke a deep breath. "Let's go."

Poplar tapped some other trees and the nymphs melted out of the trees. Quickly, she explained what they were about to do. The nymphs grabbed hold of Ellie, Lilah, Autumn, Toni and Beech. I stood close by and watched them getting raised in the air.

"You can alert the Amphisbaenia now," Poplar whispered. "Good luck!"

I nodded and started yelling and screaming to attract the attention of the Amphisbaenia. "AHHHHH! MY FRIENDS WERE EATEN BY TREES!" was my brilliant yell. I sprinted towards the direction Beech pointed out. Before he was "eaten be a tree", he pointed me in the direction that I was supposed to run. If the nymphs weren't able to pick me up, I was supposed to meet them at a large pine tree at the top of a hill.

"AGGHHH!" I screamed, sprinting away from the rustling bush. As I ran, I chanced a glance backwards. And immediately regretted it. The Amphisbaenia was HUGE, with a capital H. It had this funky way of moving, with both heads facing forward, towards me. Its mouths were frothing green poisonous foam, with their fangs protruding out of its mouths. Mentally, I face palmed.

"You never look back," I muttered to myself as I tried to outdistance the snake. "Everyone knows that! But, apparently not me."

Now that I had looked back, it was impossible not to check on its progress. Unfortunately for me, it was slowly gaining. Good I suppose for the snake though. "Not that I'm looking to help it get a new meal," I thought, pumping my legs and hoping that I wouldn't fall.

Just up ahead was a clearing and in the clearing was the large pine tree Beech was talking about. It was the mother of all pine trees, spanning at least 10 feet across. As I ran, staring at the tree was when it happened. I tripped.

"AHHH!" I yelled, going down. Miraculously, my windmilling arms saved me. They hit small trees enabling me NOT to fall on my face and die. Literally. Unfortunately, that was the moment when the Amphisbaenia decided to kick it up a notch. It came at me faster, just when I regained my balance.

"UG! Why me?!" I groaned, sprinting to the tree. I felt the snake's breath hot on my heels and I shot to the tree. Somehow, I outdistanced the Amphisbaenia (don't ask how- I don't know) and reached the tree where I promptly fell on my face.

"Uh..." I moaned. Had to happen sometime I guess. Rather it here then with the snake. Speaking of snakes, the Amphisbaenia was staring at me and hissing. It was eerie, with the two heads in synchronization. I was about to taunt the snake by laughing at it and sticking my tongue out when my friends crashed down from the trees above and landed on me.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Marina!" Lilah shouted, jumping up from her perch on top of the pile.

Beech followed with a muttered apology. Autumn and Toni were next, thanking me for the soft landing. To which I responded with an eye roll. Ellie was still on me when I poked her.

"Are you going to get up anytime soon?" I asked.

"You're alive! I knew you wouldn't die!" she squealed, hugging me in her death grip.

"Not yet I'm not," I wheezed. "But I might be if you keep holding me like this."

"Sorry!" she winced, finally letting me go and standing up.

I laid there for another minute before being offered two hands, Lilah's and Toni's.

"Thanks guys," I said getting up with their help.

We stood in a circle grinning like fools at each other, until we realized how tired we were and started swaying.

"Let's lie down for a minute," offered Autumn, curling up under the pine tree.

"Good idea," Ellie said, following suit.

"Why not?" asked Lilah, also curling up.

Toni shrugged. "I'm in." She got down and stretched out next to the others.

Beech looked nervous, but also laid down.

"You got me up just to bring me back down," I muttered crossly, laying down by Toni.

"Nighty night," sang Ellie softly.

We all wished her sweet dreams and I promised myself that I would sleep for only a few minutes.

As I fell asleep, the last of the 6 of us, I saw several fuzzy figures coming closer.

"Huh. I wonder what they are doing..." I wondered groggily.

"I hope they aren't in league with the Amphisbaenia," was my last conscious thought before I drifted off to sleep.

ment here...


	3. Chapter 3: Into the Looking-Glass

Here is Chapter 3! Have fun! :D And don't be mad at me, please! (you'll see at the end.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Under the pine tree

I woke up to sunlight shining through the branches of a very large pine tree. "Uh...where am I?" I wondered groggily. "Wait a minute...where are my friends?" I panicked, as the memories from last night came flooding back. I sat up quickly and banged my head on a low-hanging branch. "OW!" I yelled, clutching my head and glaring at the branch in question. That was when I realized that my friends weren't where they laid down to sleep. "Oh my flip!" I screamed, looking from side to side, my brain convinced that they were still there, my eyes telling my brain that they weren't. That was when I noticed a boy about 16-17 sitting next to me. I stared at his shoes, slowly raising my head to his face. It was like looking in a mirror.

Here it is! Sorry about the VERY short chapter, but I REALLY wanted to end the previous chapter as such, but I was not able to. (I'm working on the next chapter, so don't hate me!)


	4. Chapter 4: The Revelation

Hello all! Here is the long awaited chapter 4! I know, chapter 3 was angering, and I apologize. But, here it is! I hope you like it and happy reading to you!

Under the pine tree

"Who ARE you," I whispered, still staring into his nearly identical face. We had the same shade of green for our eyes, our noses were both slightly crooked, and our hair was the same except in length. It was WEIRD.

He looked just about as surprised as I did, eyes wide and mouth slightly open. I wasn't ALL that surprised about that, as I had been facing away from him while sleeping.

"Well, uh, my name is Percy Jackson," he struggled to say, also staring into my face.

"Er, my name is Marina Pepps," I stumbled. "Where exactly am I?" I asked, finally breaking my stare and glancing around my surroundings.

He smiled then. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood," he said, standing up and offering his hand to me.

I rolled my eyes and accepted his hand. "I know that. But where are we now?"

"Under Thalia's pine tree," explained Percy, helping me up.

"Thanks," I said, brushing off pine needles and other assorted brush off of my dress. "Who's Thalia? And why does she have a pine tree?"

Percy smirked. "Thalia's a daughter of Zeus and a good friend. She WAS this pine tree a few years ago."

I stare at him, struck again by our similarity "That doesn't help," I complained.

"Sorry," Percy apologized, shrugging. "I'm not very good at this. My girlfriend Annabeth and Chiron will explain everything," he assured.

"Eh," I shrugged. "I'm a half-blood, correctly demigod, along with my four friends which is extremely odd, considering that the more scent of half-bloods attracts monsters. Satyrs like Beech are placed in schools to find demigods like my friends and myself. Of course, in our case, Beech didn't sense that WE were the demigods. He only found out when we could see the Amphisbaenia for what it was."

Percy stared. "Um, how do you know that? And why are you so calm?"

"Beech," I replied. "And books. Lots of books."

Percy cocked an eyebrow. "You read?"

"Yep! Tons!" I nodded enthusiastically. Books are the greatest!

"Estimate how much you read," challenged Percy, leading me towards a big house in the distance.

"Hmm...maybe 6 or 7 hours a day? Around 6,000 total books I think," I pondered, tapping my chin and following Percy.

He stopped. "You're not dyslexic are you," he said suspiciously.

"No..." I drew out the word, confused. "Why?"

"No reason," he then shrugged nonchalantly, continuing to lead me to the house.

"Where are we going?" I asked, trying to keep up with him.

"To the Big House to meet Chiron and Annabeth. Oh, and Mr. D," Percy said, finally slowing down.

I frowned. "Fun, but where are my friends?"

"They are already there," Percy replied.

"Um, not to sound rude, but why are they there already and not myself?" I asked confused. "Why split me away from the group?"

"Well," Percy rubbed his neck uncomfortably. "They were still sleeping. Deeply, I might add."

I nodded. My friends were deep sleepers, talking/laughing/snoring in their sleep deep sleepers. I was the only one who didn't do all of the above.

"And you looked like you were about to wake up, so I just waited for you to," Percy finished.

"Reasonable enough. I wouldn't want carry me to the house either," I shrugged.

"Here we are!" Percy said, flourishing his arms like a game show host as we reached the Big House.

The Big House was white with large bay windows overlooking strawberry fields.

"Why do you have strawberry fields?" I asked as Percy propelled me towards the door.

"Here she is!" Percy called, opening the door and ignoring my question.

"Bring her to the rec room," a masculine voice returned.

"Gotcha," Percy replied, leading me to what I assumed was the rec room.

"Ah, welcome my child," the masculine voice said as I entered the room.

I glanced at my surroundings. There was a ping-pong table in the middle of the room and around it were the following: a middle-aged guy in a leopard print shirt drinking a Diet Coke, a man with short curly brown hair in a wheelchair, a girl around my age with blonde princess curls and gray eyes, Beech, and my friends.

I gasp. "You're all here!" I squealed, running to them and giving them all hugs.

"Yay! You didn't die!" Ellie shouted as I gave her a hug.

Autumn grinned at me. "Now I don't have to make Ellie waffles!" I smacked her upside the head a little, just hard enough to know that I was glad to see her too.

"Glad you're safe," was Lilah's welcome.

Toni stood up and glomped me. "Glad you're not dead," was her comment.

I sat down in the middle of my friends, basking in our togetherness. And then the leopard shirt guy spoke, ruining it all.

"Yeah yeah yeah. Isn't it lovely having another brat to look after," he grumbled.

"Mr. D, I'm sure they are very nice," wheelchair man chided. He then turned to us. "Please introduce yourselves," he asked kindly.

"I'm Ellie!" Ellie grinned, looking like she was to hug him, but decided not to.

"Autumn Johnson," Autumn inclined her head.

"Delilah Brown," Lilah said, just loud enough to be heard.

"Umitoni Yardania. But I like Toni," Toni nodded.

"Marina Pepps," I supplied.

"Nice to meet you all. My name is Chiron. This is Annabeth," Chiron/wheelchair man said, gesturing to the curly blonde, who Percy sat by. "This is Mr. D, our camp director," he said, pointing to the guy with the Diet Coke. "And you know Beech."

"Hello," I began tentatively. Then what Chiron said hit me. "Oh my flip! You're CHIRON!? As in the Chiron from the stories!? Holy flip you're amazing!" I shouted, pumped.

He blinked. "Yes, Marina. I am the Chiron from the stories. Was she like this when you brought her here?" I heard him mutter the last part to Percy, who nodded.

I frowned. "Thanks a lot Percy," I mumbled under my breath.

Toni raised her eyebrows at me.

"Tell you later," I said out of the corner of my mouth.

While we were talking, Chiron was explaining what would happen tonight. "Your godly parents agreed to claim you before we eat dinner, if there are new recruits. You'll come up by the big front table and stand there to be claimed and to be introduced," he was saying.

Mr. D sighed. "Yes, dinner should be any time. Time to see the rest of the brats," he said while getting up and motioning for Beech to follow him.

Beech got up and waved a quick good-bye to us before following Mr. D.

"Is that it then?" asked Autumn, glancing through the door where Mr. D had left.

"Yes," Chiron said, following Autumn's gaze. "He's not normally this bad," he apologized. "It's just that, there are five of you and that's a lot to take in for him."

Percy rolled his eyes and muttered something to Annabeth.

"Annabeth, will you show the girls to the dining pavilion? I need to talk to Percy for a minute," Chiron smiled.

"Sure!" Annabeth said, getting up and pushing in he chair. "Follow me!"

Dutifully, we got up and followed Annabeth out. Being the last person to leave, I heard Chiron asking Percy about me. I was hurt. Was I not trustworthy? Why were they questioning me and not Ellie, Toni, Autumn, or Lilah?

As Annabeth led us to the pavilion, Ellie quizzed her about the food.

"I can have anything?" Ellie asked excitedly.

Lilah's eyes widened. "No you're not! You are not allowed to have anything that would make you hyper," she lectured, listing foods that Ellie was not allowed to eat. "You have to show me your plate before you eat, so I can check if it's okay for you to eat."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "Why?" she asked.

Autumn shrugged. "Ellie is already hyper, so she's not allowed food that would make her more so."

"Ahh," Annabeth nodded. "I see."

Toni smiled. "Ellie has a lot of rules and Lilah is the only one she sort of listens to. It takes awhile to remember all of her restrictions."

"Just like Autumn isn't allowed energy drinks either," I challenged Autumn.

She grinned back. "Guilty!"

Then, Ellie smelled the food. "FOOD!" she ran.

"No Ellie! Heel!" Lilah called after her.

Autumn groaned. "That's our cue," she grumbled, chasing after her with Toni right behind her.

I started, but Annabeth held me back. "Yes?" I asked quizzically.

Annabeth, all traces of a smile gone, asked quietly. "Who are you?"

I stared at her. "Um...Marina?" I questioned.

Annabeth shook her head. "You and Percy are almost exact copies of each other. How is that possible?" she asked, almost to herself.

"I wish I could help," I patted her arm. "Maybe once I'm claimed everything will make more sense."

Annabeth nodded. "Yeah. I'm normally not this foreboding, but..." she trailed off.

"But there hasn't been a Percy look a like either," I finished. "Go find Percy. I can make it to the pavilion by myself," I offered.

"Thanks," Annabeth said, hugging me. "I'm sure everything will turn out just fine," she assured me.

I smiled at her. "Of course. See you in there!"

She nodded and ran off beaming to herself.

I shook my head, smiling slightly. There was nothing quite like solving a problem. I walked in the pavilion cautiously, expecting total disaster. And was surprised. Ellie, Lilah, Toni, and Autumn were up by the front table in a straight row, not causing any trouble whatsoever. I narrowed my eyes. That was not possible for them. Something had to have scared them or something. Then my eyes lit upon Mr. D. "Ah, that's why," I thought to myself, satisfactorily. I knew my friends, and even with Lilah's directions, they weren't that organized. I skipped up to them and hugged them one by one. I was still that happy that we were together. I skipped to the end of the line by Toni. Lilah was in the middle of Ellie and Autumn, probably to keep them from doing something stupid.

"Hi!" I said to Toni, grinning.

"Why are you so happy?" she asked.

"We are all together and not separated!" I replied.

No one really noticed us as we stood up there. I guess they were used to claiming by now. Everyone got quiet very fast, and I turned to where they were looking. It was Chiron, in full white palomino form, with Percy and Annabeth trailing behind him.

He smiled kindly at us before facing the kids at the tables. "Welcome." He paused to look at all the kids.

"As you can see, we have 5 new recruits and they are about to be claimed. Before that happens however, Mr. D has some announcements to make," he finished, motioning for Mr. D to stand.

We exchanged a 5-way glance what was he going to do?

"Yeah yeah yeah, nice to see you brats," Mr. D said loudly. "Training for the summer Olympics continues, blah blah blah," Mr. D said, waving his hand disinterestedly and about to sit down.

Chiron raised an eyebrow an jerked his towards us.

Mr. D raised his eyes to the ceiling. "Yes, of course. The 5 new recruits are about to be claimed. Don't know why, they'll just be more trouble and all," he said dismissively.

The five of us simultaneously looked at Ellie, who shrugged and smiled innocently.

Chiron motioned to Mr. D for more.

"Yes, and their names are," he squinted at us. "From right to left Fall Jackson, oh not another one of those," he groaned. "Daffodil Yellow, Sallie...hm," he frowned. "Don't believe she told me her last name...oh well, Tania Gardania, and Milana Epps. There they are and now it's time for them to be claimed. Wish they aren't in your cabin," Mr. D finished, sitting back down and snapping his fingers for another Diet Coke.

Lilah had a positively murderous look on her face. Mr. D better watch out. Lilah angry is not something you want, especially if her anger is directed towards you. Ellie was still smiling; I had a feeling that she wasn't listening to anything anyone was talking about. I was pondering what she was thinking about when I heard everyone gasp. I looked at my friends, and there was Autumn. I mean, she was very pretty before, but now, wow! Let me explain. When I turned to look at her, her beauty was glowing. Literally. Her straight brown hair was sparkly, as if someone poured glitter over her head. Her complexion, already good, was flawless, she had just the right amount of makeup on to bring out her cobalt blue eyes, and, to top it off, instead of her slept in dress she was wearing an off white toga.

"Aphrodite," Chiron said approvingly.

Lilah looked terrified. She was probably thinking about what would happen to her, as she was next. I smile encouragingly at her, but I don't think she saw. He eyes were squeezed shut and she was gripping Autumn and Ellie's hands in a death grip. Fortunately for her, she didn't change in any way. A flower, a carnation to be exact, appeared over her head. She glanced up at it after Ellie jabbed her and pointed to it. The carnation happened to be her favorite and she was very excited.

"Daughter of Persephone," Chiron intoned.

Next was Ellie, who was staring intently over her waiting for the sign to appear. It did, right over her face.

"AHH!" she screamed, tripping over nothing. The only thing that kept her from falling was Lilah and Toni.

Chiron raised an eyebrow, but said "Apollo, god of archery."

Toni shook her head at Ellie and calmly waited for her sign to come. A scythe and a hammer popped into existence over her head.

"Hephaestus," Chiron nodded.

Toni grinned. She knew that Hephaestus was the god of fire and the forge- which meant making things. Which was her specialty.

And then it was my turn. I took a deep breath, trying to calm down. "Everything will be alright," I coached myself. "Screw this I'm going to die," my brain fired back.

I stared hyperventilating right about then. And then it all ended with the blue-green trident that exactly matched my dress that I was still wearing from the dance yesterday. That small, glowing trident changed my life forever.

Chiron stared and Percy paled. "Daughter of Poseidon, the god of the sea."

Dun dun dun! *cue the dramatic music* And that's the end! Working on chapter 5, so hopefully it will be updated soon!


	5. Chapter 5: The Meeting

Ah! Here it is, the long awaited chapter number 5! Hooray for finally being done! Enjoy!

Dining pavilion, night

Mr. D raised his eyebrows. "Another one?"

"You may sit down at your respective tables," Chiron said shakily. But I could tell that didn't apply to me. So I stood there awkwardly while the Aphrodite table called to Autumn. I could tell it was for Autumn because all the people there were absurdly pretty. Ellie skipped to the Apollo table. Don't ask how she knew; she just did. The Persephone table waved to Lilah and Lilah hurried over, probably glad to be out of the spotlight. Autumn sat down by a guy with blonde swoosh hair and brown eyes, with whom she started talking. Ellie sat by a tall girl with spiky black hair, blue eyes, and a serious face. Ellie looked tiny compared to her. She also was way more excited than should be allowed. I saw the black-haired girl raise an eyebrow at Ellie. I giggled to myself. She better get used to it! Lilah sat down by a boy that looked sort of Japanese. He struck up a conversation with her and she gladly acquiesced, as it was probably about flowers. Toni I saw, was welcomed warmly to the Hephaestus table. She sat down grinning and was laughing already with her new siblings. I smiled at them, glad that they fit in so well. Then my predicament sank in. My smile wavered as Chiron motioned for Percy and me to join him. I walked across the front and kept my head down, hoping to avoid attention. When I reached Chiron, his face and voice were grave.

"Come with me," he intoned, as Percy joined us.

He cantered out in front, leaving me an awkward walk with Percy. I didn't say anything to him and walked quickly behind Chiron.

"Marina?" Percy asked gently, his hand upon my shoulder. "Are you okay?"

I gave him a look, or at least tried to. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? You suddenly acquired a sister out of no where."

Percy shrugged. "Yeah, but I already went through that with my half brother Tyson who's a cyclops. You're brand new to this."

I gave him a half smile. "I concede your point."

Percy just stared. "Do you always talk like that?" he asked amazed.

I furrowed my brow. "Talk like what?" I asked.

"Talk like you're a lawyer or professor or something," Percy gestured to me.

I blushed. "Yeah, that's really how I talk. If you're not used to it it can be confusing. My friends are always complaining for me to not use large words or correct their grammar."

Percy sighed heavily. "And I'm going to have to share a cabin with you."

"Hey!" I shouted indignantly, smacking his arm. I wasn't that bad...was I?

Percy laughed and helped me up the stairs, as we had reached the Big House and I was still wearing my dress. Chiron was inside and we found him at he ping pong table again.

"Marina. Do you realize how big of deal this is that you are another child of Poseidon in 5 years?" Chiron started in, as if continuing an argument that we were just having.

"I do now," I replied, feeling like I was about to be squashed.

Chiron lectured me about the Big 3, which I already knew about, so I started doodling. Percy watched me with great interest.

"Are you even listening?!" Chiron said loudly, finally noticing what I was doing.

"Nah. I already knew that." I continued doodling.

Chiron's eyes just about popped out. "How do you already know?" he asked.

I glance at him. "I read," I said simply.

"She doesn't have dyslexia," Percy supplied. "I asked her on the way down here the first time."

Chiron raised his eyebrows. "Huh. Well, then I guess that's it for tonight."

I stopped doodling. "Bedtime?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes," he sighed. "But tomorrow we are having a camp meeting."

I frowned. I did NOT want to be put on display at this camp meeting.

Chiron ignored my frown and pulled out a pile of clothes. "Here. These are yours," he said, handing them to me.

"Thank you," I said, grabbing them from him. Clothes!

"You are dismissed," Chiron said wearily.

Percy pulled me to my feet and we walked out the door, leaving Chiron behind.

"Whew!" I sighed. "Glad that's over!"

Percy chuckled. "Yeah, me too."

We walked in comfortable silence until we passed the dining pavilion. I glanced at Percy nervously.

"Can I go back in there to say good night to my friends?" I asked.

"Thought you'd never ask. Gives me an excuse to see Annabeth again," Percy grinned.

I smiled happily, walking towards where they were sitting. And stopped short.

"They left already?" I whispered.

"Must have been with Chiron longer than we thought. Come on, let's go to your new home," Percy pulled me towards his cabin. I mean, OUR cabin.

I looked back at pavilion longingly. "Good night," I whispered softly to my friends.

Percy didn't turn his head, but I think he felt bad for me. A strange new place with a brand-new sibling that you meet knew you had? Yeah, that takes the pity cake. But I didn't want it. And nor did Percy, I thought.

"Home sweet home," Percy announced half-heartedly, opening the door to the Poseidon cabin and ushering me in.

"Wow," I said, standing in shock at our cabin.

It had a low hanging ceiling and 6 bunks along the walls. It was softly lit with blue light and a bronze hippocampi wind chime was chiming quietly in the background.

"You live here by yourself?!" I asked as I breathed in the somehow salty air. "It's beautiful!"

"Yeah, it is," Percy said, taking my arm and showing me around. "Here's my bed," he said pointing to the only bed that looked slept in. "There's the fountain that I cracked," he said pointing to a broken fountain.

"No really?" I asked sarcastically.

"Yes really. Bathrooms are in the back, you can change an pick a bed," he said, gesturing to the back of the cabin.

I nodded and made my way to the bathroom. I quickly changed and held my dress close to me as I made my way to Percy in his bed. I picked the bed directly across from his and set my dress down tenderly. We had been through so much together.

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Hello," he said, propping himself up on an elbow.

"Hi," I replied quietly, getting into my new bed.

He looked at my dress and them back at me.

"What?" I asked defensively.

"You're keeping that?" Percy asked, jerking his towards he dress.

"Yes. She's the only thing left of my old life and we've been through a lot together," I said, glaring at him.

"I did the same thing," Percy said, almost to himself.

"Yeah? What was it like for you?" I questioned, sitting up and hugging my knees.

Percy looked up and grinned, shaking his head. "You want to know?"

I nodded vigorously. "I-well, since you're my brother, I want to know everything," I finished quietly.

Percy shook his head again, mystified. "Alright, we trade questions, okay?"

"Yep!" I smiled. "Go!"

Percy muttered to himself, probably cursing me. "It was hard," he began. "I thought I lost my mom and I was really confused. I was only twelve, and I thought it was all my fault. Being claimed opened up a lot of resentment to my father, and it took a long time to get over it. I got my mom back though, and I've been coming here every summer since."

I nodded, not sure what to say. "If you only come durin the summer, why are you here now? It's September," I asked, it just sinking in.

Percy shook his finger at me, an elfish grin on his face. "My turn!"

I groaned. "Fine. Shoot!"

Percy rubbed his chin thinking. "Hmm...what's your favorite color?"

I cocked an eyebrow. "That's your question? My favorite color?!"

Percy nodded resolutely. "Yep."

"Okay..." I sighed. "I don't have just one favorite, I have three. Blue, green, and purple."

Percy looked at a little weirdly. Maybe he doesn't know anyone that has three favorite colors. Now he does!

"My turn!" I said happily. So many questions! "Let's see...lets go with the all original what is your favorite kind of fish?" I questioned, rubbing my chin and giving him a look.

All I got was a stare. "What?" I asked, confused. "It's a fair question."

"My..favorite...fish?" he asked weakly.

"Yes. That's right," I said slowly. Was he hard of hearing? "Since you are a son of Poseidon, I thought you'd have a favorite kind of fish."

"Never thought of that one," Percy muttered to himself. "Uh, I dunno," he shrugged.

I gasped. "How can you not?! My favorite fish is the Poecilia Reticulata!"

Percy sighed. "English?"

I frowned. I get that enough from my friends. "The guppy."

"Huh. Never actually seen a guppy before," Percy said thoughtfully.

I opened my mouth to describe the guppy, but Percy held up his hand. "I don't really care right now. Time for bed. You've had a long day and, frankly, so have I."

I nodded, a little hurt. "Good night Percy," I said quietly, slipping into my new bed and turning to face the wall.

I heard Percy sigh and toss his covers. I squeezed my eyes shut and curled into a ball, not my normal sleeping position, but it felt right. I felt an increase in pressure on my bed and I turned slightly.

"I'm sorry Marina," I heard Percy whisper, laying his hand on my arm. "I didn't mean it like that. I don't know what I meant, but it wasn't about you. I'm really glad you're my new sister."

I turned around fully to face him. "Really?" I asked softly, trying to keep my tears in my eyes.

"Yes," he said, smiling at me. "Really."

I stuffed my face in my covers and promptly burst into tears.

"What's wrong?" asked Percy anxiously.

"Nothing," I sobbed. Stupid crying! Why must it happen when you are happy or relieved?

Percy rolled me over and lifted my head to see me. "Are you okay?"

I nodded and flung my arms around him, still crying. Percy slowly put his arms around me in a hug and patted my back a little awkwardly. "It's okay."

Finally, I stopped crying and hugging my very confused brother. "Thank you Percy," I smiled at him weakly, wiping the tears from my face.

"Anytime," he replied easily. "Although, a little warning next time might help." He ruffled my hair.

I laughed and hugged him again. "You're the best!"

"I know," he said, hugging me again tightly.

I broke away and asked, "Bed time?"

"Bed time," Percy agreed, getting up from my bed.

I slid down my bed and tucked my pillow under my head. "'Night," I called softly to my new brother.

"Sleep tight," he answered, getting into his own bed.

"Don't let the bedbugs bite!" I returned sleepily, closing my eyes.

I could almost hear Percy's smile, and smiled back involuntarily. I fell asleep just like that, with the smile still plastered across my face.

Poseidon cabin, crack of dawn

I groaned and turned over on my side. I did NOT want to get up. I kept my eyes closed for another minute, and then slowly opened them. I squinted, dark as it was, it was still bright to my eyes. As I stared at the bottom of the bed over my head, I realized where I was. Camp Half-Blood, I thought happily, swinging my legs over the side of my bed. Percy was sprawled across his bed, snoring. Well, he wasn't going to get up anytime soon. I skipped to the bathroom and performed my usual routine. Shower, dress, teeth, and a barrette in my unruly hair. "Done!" I sang, going back to my bed.

I grabbed my watch and bracelet and put them on, glancing at the time. I stopped and stared at the time. "No way," I whispered to myself. It was 6:00, the crack of dawn.

I looked sadly at my watch. Now what was I supposed to do? I glanced around and didn't find much to do. It was kind of messy though...the more I looked, the more I was itching to clean. I'm OCD, so sue me. I resisted another minute before attacking the mess. 15 minutes later, the cabin was sparkling clean. I stood back and admired my handiwork. There wasn't a wrapper out of place. My eyes strayed to my half-brother, still spreadeagle on his bed. Checking the time, I saw it was exactly 6:30.

"Time to wake up!" I sang to my brother, bouncing over to his prone figure.

I shook his arm and started singing One Directions' wake-up song to him. Ellie would be so proud! "It's time to get up in the morning, got McDonald's just for you (or any other brand)..."

He rolled over groaning and I continued singing. "We drove two miles to just get it, so you better get up and eat it..."

When it looked like he was about to get up, I stopped my serenade. And received a pillow to the head.

"Hey!" I cried indignantly, picking his pillow up from the floor. "Don't you dare mess up our beautiful new cabin!"

"Uh...hhuh..." was the reply I got back. "What time is it?" grumbled a sleepy Percy. "8:00? 8:30? 9:00?"

"Nope! It is 6:43 in the morning!" I grinned happily.

That got a reaction out of Percy, who raised his head and squinted at me. "6:43?" he asked, bewildered. Then his eyes took in my appearance. "You're...dressed already? What time did you get up?"

"Crack of dawn, sir!" I saluted, snapping to my feet and clicking my heels. "Approximately 5:50, sir!"

Percy rubbed his eyes and sat up. "No one in their right mind gets up at this hour," he muttered. "What did you need at this ungodly hour?"

I gave him a very confused look. "What on earth gave you the idea that I needed you?"

He stared at me. "Wasn't that the reason you woke me up?"

I shook my head no.

"Then why did you wake me up?" Percy asked, putting his face in his hands.

I shrugged and sat down beside him. "I already cleaned the entire cabin and you don't have anything else to do in here. I was bored and there you were, just waiting to be awoken!"

Percy lifted his head to stare at me, as if I had suddenly gone bonkers. Then he looked around the cabin, my words just sinking in. "You cleaned the WHOLE cabin?" he whispered, eyes wide in shock.

"Yep!" I said, bouncing on his bed, full of energy.

"I don't think it's ever been this clean before," Percy said, stunned. "It's sparkling!"

"I know! I worked very hard on it," I said proudly. "I think it looks fantastic!"

"It does," he said wonderingly. "We are SO gonna ace cabin checking!"

"Cabin checking?" I tilted my head.

Percy explained some of the camp chores that we had to do. Some sounded fun, others not so much.

"Cleaning the dishes? With LAVA?!" I shouted.

Percy nodded and grinned slyly at me. He was about to say something, but I interrupted. "When is breakfast?" I asked, rubbing my stomach. I never had dinner the night before.

He laughed and asked what time it was. I looked at my watch and blinked in surprise. "It's...7:57."

Percy thought for a moment. "About half an hour."

"Awesome!" I said happily. Then I frowned at Percy. "You probably should get dressed. And shower."

He groaned, but threw back his covers all the same. He shuffled to the bathroom, and I heard the water being turned on. I sat there on his bed, thinking about waffles, pancakes, and French toast. I didn't realize Percy was standing in front of me until he spoke.

"You know, you should come with instructions," he began, as I fell of his bed in surprise. He looked down at me, eyebrows raised.

"Hey! You are not supposed to just sneak up on people you know," I complained from the floor.

"Well, I found you just sitting there, zoned out. I thought you were having a seizure of something!" Percy objected, lending me a hand to get back up.

I glared at his hand before I took it. Once vertical, I crossed my arms. "What do you want to know then?"

"Um...what?" asked Percy, getting in his hands and knees to look for a pair of socks.

"Socks are in that drawer," I pointed. "Instruction manual? What would you like to know?" I continued.

Percy got up, opened the drawer, and grabbed two socks. "I don't know, anything that could scare me, I guess."

I sighed. Lots of things have the potential to scare him. "I am a grammar nazi, obsessed with books, OCD, love singing, Logan Lerman, and dolphins. Is that all?"

Percy shook his head. "Probably not. But enough for now."

Just then, a conch horn blew. "What's that?" I asked, jumping.

"Breakfast," said Percy satisfactorily. "About time."

"Yes! Time for waffles/pancakes/French toast!" I yelled, running to the door, Percy right behind me.

"We line up outside in order of seniority," Percy explained. "You're behind me, and when Tyson's here, behind him."

"Who's Tyson?" I asked, stepping next to Percy.

"My-our half brother cyclops," Percy said causally.

My jaw might've hit the ground. "Cyclops?"

"It's a long story," Percy sighed, waving to Annabeth.

Which reminded me, where were my friends? How was their night? Their siblings? I peered over heads, but couldn't make any of them out.

"Time to go now," Percy said, grabbing my hand and leading me to the Poseidon table in the pavilion.

I skipped next to him, swinging our hands and singing the Wizard of Oz. "Come ON," I complained to Percy, tugging his hand. "You have to skip too."

"No," Percy said flatly.

When we reached the pavilion, him walking, me skipping, and sat at our table, I was able to find Toni, Lilah, Autumn, and after a few more minutes, Ellie. I waved energetically at them and received some waves in return. Autumn, not a morning person, merely glared at me. Probably mad at me for being cheerful and awake. Toni was the same way, just not as severe. Lilah was very shy, but normally we wave in synchronization, and this morning was no different. Ellie was just exuberant and waved at us all happily. When we finally stopped waving at each other, I turned to Percy. "They're here!"

"I hadn't noticed," he muttered to himself.

I ignored him. No one could rain on my parade now! I was still grinning when we were served breakfast. Once served though, we all got up and walked to a large bonfire. Several at once, they went up and scraped something into the fire.

"What are they doing?" I asked out of the corner of my mouth.

"They are giving he beat portion of their food to the gods as an offering," Percy explained, tossing in a piece of buttery bread. He was quiet for a moment after. "You can also say a prayer, if you want," he said, moving away.

I looked at my Mickey Mouse waffles sadly. I tore off two of his four ears and tossed them into the bonfire. "Please hear my prayer," I prayed. "Let me belong here with my friends."

I stepped away from the fire and towards Percy. I sat down quietly and began attacking my waffles. I set the remaining two era on the side and quickly finished off his faces. Then, and only then, I filled the ears with syrup and popped them in my mouth. "Mmm," I mumbled through my mouthful of ears.

Percy shook his head and continued eating his boring breakfast. Any breakfast was boring if it wasn't waffles, pancakes, or French toast. All of my friends agree, so we're not crazy. Much. After we all finished eating, everyone got up and went on with their day. To train, I assumed. Chiron approached Percy and me.

"Uh oh," I whispered to my empty plate.

Chiron didn't even look at me; he only spoke to Percy. "Camp meeting in 10 minutes," then he left, to tell the other cabins I guess.

Percy kept eating his breakfast, not saying anything. I glanced at my watch impatiently. How long can someone keep eating breakfast when there's a meeting in 8, no 7, minutes!?

As I looked at my watch for what felt like the thousandth time, Percy remarked, "Ansty much?"

I glared at him. "Yes! I must be early! If not, I get panic attacks."

"You're very hardcore," Percy smirked.

I crossed my arms. "That's hilarious," I muttered under my breath.

Percy grinned at me and finished (finally!) his breakfast. He got up and stretched. "Time for a nap, I think," he said.

"NO!" I shouted, pushing him in the direction of the Big House.

Percy all-out smiled. "It's so easy to mess with you!" he laughed, moving on his own now.

I grumbled at him. It's all fine for everyone else, but not for the girl who has OCD. We made it to the Big House without any more trouble from Percy. Or me falling...

As I walked into the ping-pong table room again, I saw my friends lined up in the exact position as they were the last time we were here. "Déjà vu!" I screamed at my friends, rushing to hug them all.

"Marina!" my wonderful friends yelled back.

We ran to meet each other in the middle of the room, and became a circle of squealing, jumping girls, all talking at once.

"I missed you!" I sobbed happily at my friends.

"Me too!" Autumn and Lilah smiled back.

Toni grinned at me and then glomped me.

"Ug!" I stumbled back. "I love you too!"

Ellie frowned at Toni. "My turn!"

Toni let me go and Ellie took her place. "I thought you died!"

I rolled my eyes and hugged her back. "What is it with you and thinking I'm dead?"

After another minute of excited chatting, Chiron cleared his throat. We looked at each other guiltily and sat down quickly.

Chiron gave us one last glance before starting the meeting. "As you all know, we have 5 new recruits," he began. "And they need a schedule. So, who wants what?" Chiron said placing his hands on the table and looking at the other cabins.

"I can take Ellie shooting," offered the spiky haired girl said, grimacing.

Chiron nodded at her. "Thank you, Alex."

"I can teach Toni how to make weapons," offered Jake Mason of the Hephaestus cabin. "And wield them."

"Jake," Chiron nodded at him.

"I will help with the training!" bellowed a girl with stringy brown hair.

"Of course, Clarisse," Chiron accepted, appearing unsurprised.

"I can help Annabeth teach them Greek," offered a boy with blond hair and gray eyes.

Annabeth nodded. "Thanks Finn, that'll help my schedule."

Chiron looked around. "We will sort out the rest once we figure out weapons. Any ideas?" he asked us, eyebrows raised.

Ellie, with a huge grin on her face. "Bow!"

Alex shook her head and whispered to Chiron, "Crossbow; I don't trust her with anything else."

He nodded. "Anyone else?"

Autumn spoke up, "Dagger?"

Toni gave her a withering look before saying confidently, "Battle ax."

Lilah raised her hand. "Mace?" she asked hopefully.

She received a few awed stares before they calmed down.

"Sword?" I shrugged. I didn't really care as long as I was good at it.

Chiron clapped his hands. "Now that that's settled, you may go."

Everyone got up and started to leave. Chiron turned to the five of us. "You can stay together for today, but stay out of trouble!"

Percy squeezed my arm and left with Annabeth. Us five stared at each other before it sank in.

"YES!" Toni shouted, jumping up from her chair. "Let's explore!"

And thus ends chapter five! Hooray! Thank you for your patience, I was preoccupied with absolutely nothing. No joke. I did nothing, but had no time to write. Next chapter (hopefully) will not take as long. À bientôt! (see you later in French).


	6. Chapter 6: Exploration

Finally done! Have a jolly good time reading!

"Yay!" shouted Ellie, jumping from her chair like Toni and running to the door. "Let's go, guys!"

Autumn, Lilah, and I followed calmer, but not by much. Together for the whole day! Yiipee! We ran from the Big House to outside where we skipped in a circle, laughing the entire time. Once exhausted, we laid down in the grass, looking at cloud shapes.

"It's a bunny!" shouted Lilah, pointing to the cloud.

Ellie scrunched her eyes. "I...I...I see it!"

Autumn rolled her eyes. "It's obviously an Australian."

Toni punched her half-heartedly. "You think everything has to do with Australians."

Autumn shrugged. "They're just that awesome."

"Yep!" Lilah agreed enthusiastically.

They are both J-Crewies, fans of an Australian band/dance group. The rest of us grudgingly admit their hotness and they claim victory for converting us. Of course, Ellie also claims victory for converting us all into Directioners (fans of One Direction). Lilah also got us into The Wanted, so we are Prisoners. Hetalia was Toni's genius conversion and I am the only one who has yet to convert anyone to anything.

"There's a dolphin," I say, breaking up a fight without it having started.

Toni nods and then pokes me. "Hey! Maybe she's your cousin!"

"Yeah! Marina's a fish!" Ellie laughed.

"A dolphin is a mammal, not a fish," I corrected.

I was ignored, for once. Normally when I correct someone's facts or grammar, I get voted off the island (don't ask; I don't even know). Currently, I'm residing two islands away, underneath in a sea cave while the island above has monkeys. Which I don't like. At all.

"Maybe that's where you get your swimming powers," Lilah remarked thoughtfully.

"Probably," I said, grinning as I thought of my swimming success. I swim the butterfly, the hardest of the four strokes. My time is below the section qualifiers, so I go to sections. It's very fun, especially the medley, with four swimmers swimming all four strokes.

"What do you think I got from Apollo?" Ellie asked. "Look, a clover leaf!"

Autumn gave Ellie a look. "We all wonder about that," she muttered.

All but Ellie grinned at each other. None of us are quite sure about Ellie. We stayed there looking at the clouds until Ellie started complaining that she was hungry.

"Food," she moaned, sitting up and rubbing her stomach.

Autumn sat up too. "Yeah, I'm getting kind of hungry," she agreed.

Lilah rolled over on her stomach and pointed to some bushes in the distance. "Are they strawberry bushes?"

Ellie and Autumn got up immediately and ran to the bushes.

"Last one there is a rotten strawberry!" Autumn called to Ellie.

"Tell me if they are!" Lilah yelled after them, laying her head down on the grass.

Toni picked some grass and put it on her head. "All hail for the Grass Princess!" she announced majestically. Or tried to at least.

Both Toni and I bowed to our 'princess'. Lilah nodded to us graciously. And then we heard a voice calling to us, or rather our 'princess'.

"Lilah! They are strawberries!" Autumn shouted back.

"No! Don't tell her! Mine all mine!" said a crazed up Ellie, stuffing her face with strawberries.

"NOOO!" Lilah gasped, sprinting towards the strawberries.

Toni hesitated for a moment. "WAIT FOR ME!" she called, also running away, giving into the lure if the strawberries.

I sighed. My friends were fruit nuts...heh! Fruit nuts! I giggled to myself. Sometimes I love my brain... Then I sighed. Probably should make sure that they don't inadvertently break anything. I got up and hop-skipped over to them.

"Don't destroy anything!" I called ahead of me. Then I sighed. They weren't going to listen. Good thing it wasn't mangoes, or Lilah would probably have a heart-attack from happiness. Once I reached them though, they were full and laying on the ground, groaning.

"What did you guys do? Eat your weight in fruit?!" I asked, hands on hips. Normally Lilah would tell them off, but she was one of the perpetrators for once.

Ellie squinted at me. "Maybe..." she mumbled, holding her stomach.

Autumn and Toni just moaned, which answered my question.

Lilah, on the other hand, looked proud. "Strawberries," she said dreamily.

I rolled my eyes and sat between them, thinking that their stomach-aches were punishment enough.

After half and hour, Ellie finally sat up. "Ugh...I can't believe I ate that much!" she said brightly.

Ellie was back! The others weren't there yet, but they were close to being fully functional. As soon as they were, Ellie jumped up and started running around in circles.

"What are we going to do next?" she asked dizzily, after she fell.

"Not spin around," Lilah chastised, shaking her finger at Ellie.

"Walk that way?" Toni suggested, gesturing directly away from the Big House.

"Let's go!" Ellie shouted, running in that general direction.

"No running," Autumn frowned at Ellie.

Ellie walked back, head hanging. "Okay."

Lilah hooked her arm in Ellie's. "Let's skip!"

Ellie offered her arm to Autumn, who offered it to Toni, who in turn, offered me hers. We all linked arms and started skipping.

"We're off to the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz!" I started to sing. They joined in the next verse and we continued to sing and skip until we reached what apparently was the beach.

"Swimming!" gasped Ellie.

"Not without a swimsuit you're not!" I grabbed her by the waist.

Ellie struggled, but soon gave up. "Why not?" she asked.

"Because we aren't going to swim in our clothes because we don't have any to spare," Autumn rolled her eyes.

Toni shook her hair out of her braid. "But we can stick our feet in!"

I let Ellie go and we all ran to stick our feet in the cool water.

"Ah," we all sighed in relief as the cold water hit our feet.

Ellie stayed in that position for about 10 minutes before getting up. She rolled up her jeans and waded in. "Look what I found!" she yelled, splashing her way over.

I cracked an eye open, as she was interrupting my tan time. "That would be a shell."

"Ooh!" Lilah said, grabbing the shell and examining it. "What kind is it?"

Ellie shrugged. "It's pretty, who cares?"

Autumn looked at it. "No clue."

Toni didn't even bother looking at it. "Don't ask me!"

I glanced at it. "That would be an apple murex."

Lilah looked at it. "An apple? It doesn't look like an apple," she said, confused.

"Most shell names are weird like that," I shrugged.

Ellie gave it to Lilah, who loves apples, and went to find some more. We all watched her with great interest, waiting for her bad balance to kick in and fall. But she didn't. She kept coming back, with handfuls of shells, until we all had a pile.

"Okay! Done!" Ellie said proudly, flopping herself down on the sand.

We sat there for another few minutes, just sitting.

"'Kay, I'm bored," Ellie said, breaking the silence.

"Why do you have such a short attention span?" groaned Toni, flopping herself on the sand.

"Why do you always have to be fixing something," Ellie shot back, for once having a good comeback.

"Because...because, well...because I can!" Toni shouted, stymied.

Autumn, Lilah, and I started laughing.

"What?" they asked us, confused.

"Nothing!" Lilah laughed behind her hand.

Autumn took no precaution to hid her laughter. "Your faces were priceless! Ellie finally had a good comeback and the other person didn't! Ha!"

They turned to me. "Hey!" I held my hands up. "You know me, someone else laughs, I have to too! But it was pretty funny," I added.

Ellie and Toni frowned. Then, randomly, decided to team up against us. Each grabbed a handful of water and threw it at us. Ellie's, who normally had horrible aim, landed on Autumn's lap.

Autumn gasped. "Oh no you didn't," she cried, leaping up. "You are so going to regret that!" she yelled, landing in the water and scooping some up to fling at Ellie.

"HEY!" Ellie shouted indignantly. "You have better aim!"

Of course, after Ellie said that, Autumn's handful of liquid went off course and landed on Lilah.

She stared at her wet self for a second. Then she looked up with murder in her eyes. "You will pay," Lilah said quietly, getting up fluidly and taking up a handful for herself.

Autumn backed away, knowing that Lilah's rage wasn't never good to be pointed at you.

Ellie and Toni also backed away, possibly because they didn't want to be accidentally hit. We were known for our clumsiness at our old school, and were careful to try and stay out of each other's way. Lilah raised her hand full of water and threw it at Autumn! Only, none of it landed on her. Because, somehow, Lilah managed to fling it backwards and have it land on me.

She whipped around and stared at me. "I'm so sorry!" Lilah exclaimed, half giggling.

I sighed and got up. "Guess this means war!" I shouted, using my hands to spray them all.

"That it does!" yelled Toni to my right, splashing me.

This continued for about 15 minutes before Ellie asked the question. Not just A question, THE question.

"Who's winning?" she asked innocently, in the midst of slooshing Autumn.

"I am!" Autumn shouted back, getting Ellie in the face.

"Nuh uh!" Lilah and Toni tossed out. "I am!"

I stood back, waiting for Ellie to ask me why I wasn't splashing anyone. Five seconds later, my wait was over.

"Why aren't you playing?" screamed Ellie over the waves.

I smiled. "I'm the answer to your question."

"What question?" Ellie asked, spluttering, as Toni got her in the face.

"I am the winner," I called back, still smiling, waiting for a reply.

"But, you're not even participating," Lilah asked confusedly, nailing Autumn.

"I don't have to," I grinned manically. When were they going to realize it?

"That makes no sense," stated Autumn, while getting water to pay back Ellie.

"I am the daughter of Poseidon," I said, just loud enough to be heard.

They froze and then slowly turned to me. Lilah tried for a smile, but didn't quite make it. Ellie looked downright terrified while Toni was trying to look stoic. Autumn on the other hand was trying to laugh it off.

"You win!" she laughed nervously.

"I win," I agreed, pausing for effect. Then, raising my hands and concentrating, a large tidal wave rose up behind them. They looked back as a shadow was cast over them.

"You wouldn't," pleaded Ellie, hanging onto Toni's arm once again.

"All's fair in love and war." I smiled as I let the wave crash over them. But I made sure that I didn't completely cover them with the wave.

"Well, that was interesting," muttered Toni dryly, wringing out her shirt as much as she could.

I, of course, was dry, being the daughter of Poseidon and all that. "I can't believe it took you guys that long!" I laughed.

"Yeah yeah yeah," grumbled Autumn. She wasn't that happy being completely soaked.

Lilah was helping Ellie wring her shirt out. "Yeah," she said rolling her eyes. "Did not occur to me at all."

Ellie shrugged. "It was fun! But I wish I wasn't wet," she looked down sadly at her sopping clothes.

"Hmm..." I wondered. Could I bring out the moisture in their clothing? I closed my eyes and concentrated, imagining the water coming out of the fabric and forming a ball.

"Geez Marina!" complained Autumn. "Next time, tell us before you do some funky water bending stuff."

I grinned sheepishly at them. "Sorry. But you have to admit, it was pretty cool."

"It was!" Ellie said happily. "Now I'm not wet!"

See, taking the water out of their clothing was a success, but I forgot to mention to them what I was trying. And apparently, having water removed from your clothing while still wearing it doesn't feel all that great. Autumn and Ellie let loose enough expletives to set fire to something while Toni and Lilah used their own creative words to let me know that it wasn't a fun experience. We were on our way to lunch and soon spotted some of our siblings.

"Sakura! Over here!" Lilah called, waving energetically at the Japanese looking boy she sat by last night.

Sakura smiled, waved back, and started to make his way through the crowd.

"Oh, by the way, Sakura's gay," Lilah whispered to us, just before he reached us.

"Hey Lilah. Who are your friends?" Sakura asked easily, holding out his hand.

"Autumn," Autumn said, shaking his hand once.

"Ellie!" she said happily, ignoring his hand and hugging him instead.

"Toni," said the afore mentioned, shaking his hand, while shaking her head at Ellie.

"And you are Marina," Sakura said, shaking my hand. "The infamous second child of Poseidon."

"Not so famous," I said shaking his hand back.

"Hey Cade! CADE!" yelled Autumn. A blond swoosh haired boy turned. "Come meet my friends!"

Cade waved to he was talking to and jogged towards us. "Hey," he nodded at us. "I'm Cade."

Again, we introduced ourselves, but Cade just nodded at us after learning our names.

"And I'm Jake," said a boy with black hair behind us.

"Jake!" Toni punched him. "Don't sneak up on me!"

"Hi ladies," Jake smiled. "Nice to meet you. Heard a lot about you last night."

Toni punched him again and he just laughed. He ruffled her hair and waved goodbye.

"Brothers," Toni muttered under her breath, smiling a little.

"Where's Alex?" Ellie pouted, crossing her arms.

"In front of you," said a dry voice, about five feet away.

"Alex!" Ellie gasped, running to the tall girl and hugging her. "Come meet my friends!" she dragged her over.

"I've already met them," Alex tried to explain, but Ellie didn't listen. She introduced us all and Alex just put her face in her free hand. "Why me?" I heard her mutter.

Once the needless introductions were done, Sakura hooked his arm in Lilah's.

"Ready?" he asked.

Lilah nodded. "Yep!" And Sakura led her to the dining hall.

Ellie hooked her arm through Alex's and started leading her also, whether or not she wanted to go. Cade and Autumn did not do that, but rather she followed him closely. Jake reappeared and Toni walked by him to their table. I smiled and skipped after them.

"Do you always skip?" asked a voice behind me.

I jumped and spun to face the voice. "Oh!" I gasped. "Finn, you scared me!"

For it was Finn, the boy from the meeting who startled me.

"Sorry," he grinned. "But, do you always skip?"

"Not all the time, but often. Why?" I asked.

"Just wondering. You seem to skip a lot, so I decided to ask," Finn shrugged, walking beside me.

"I think it's one of the best modes of transportation," I confessed. Normally people look at me weird when I say that, but Finn just smiled.

"Yeah?" he asked. "I haven't skipped since grade school."

I gasped. "Oh the horror!" I clutched my heart dramatically.

Finn raised an eyebrow. "Uh huh."

I stopped being dramatic for a minute as we walked.

"So, what seized you to come talk to me?" I asked frankly.

"You looked lonely," Finn replied.

I raised my eyebrows at him. It was practically impossible to look lonely while skipping. "Okay, maybe you didn't look lonely," he laughed. "But all your friends had someone to walk them to lunch and you didn't, and I felt bad. So here I am."

"Well, thank you. I appreciate it," I said, maybe a little shyly. I was, in fact, a little lonely and never would have thought that someone would notice.

"Hey, no problem," Finn said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. "You'd've done the same for me."

I glanced at him, surprised. "How do you know that? You've only just met me."

"Call it hunch. You look like the kind of person who would help people, even if you don't know them very well," Finn shrugged. "Am I right?"

"Pretty much. Sometimes my friends yell at me for being 'too nice'," I smiled at him. "You seem like that kind if person too."

"Shoot! What gave me away?" Finn 'panicked'.

"Nothing. Just the fact that you are walking with me to keep me company, that's all. It's probably nothing," I replied grinning.

"Whew!" Finn wiped his forehead."Thought my reputation of being the worst person around was ruined!"

"Nope! Still intact!" I laughed.

"Good. I thought I was going to have to kill you for a minute," Finn said, stretching.

"Hey!" I shouted indignantly, punching him on the arm.

"Ow!" he yelped, rubbing his arm. "You hit pretty hard, you know that, right?"

"I do now!" I grinned cheekily at him. "Sorry," I added, not one to hold a grudge.

"That's okay. I deserved it," Finn smiled at me. "Though my arm is going to be sore."

"Again, sorry! I didn't think I would punch you that hard," I apologized.

Finn held up his hands. "Don't blame yourself. I caused it, it's my fault," he replied, the smile still on his face.

I rolled my eyes. "I still feel bad," I muttered.

"How's this, then. You owe me a favor which I can redeem anytime," Finn offered, holding out his hand.

"Sounds like a plan,'" I smiled shaking his hand.

"Now that that's settled, let's have some lunch!" Finn grabbed my hand and pulled me into the pavilion.

"Hey!" I protested, dragging my feet. "I sit with Percy, not you."

"True," he shrugged. "But that doesn't mean I can't walk you to your seat."

"You mean drag me," I mumbled.

"Walk, drag, same difference," Finn shrugged. "Here we are!" he announced as we reached Percy, who raised an eyebrow.

"Hello," he began cautiously, putting his fork down.

"Here is your sister." Finn gestured grandly to me, to which I replied with an eye roll. "I brought her safe and sound back to you," he finished. Finn then winked at me and ran to his table.

"Hey," I said to Percy as I sat down. "What's up?"

"Nothing," Percy replied, still staring after Finn. "What was he doing?"

"Walking me to lunch," I shrugged, grabbing some chicken off Percy's plate. "Why?"

"Nothing. Just wondering," Percy said, turning to me with a smile. Which turned into a frown as he realized that I was eating his lunch. "HEY! Get your own food!"

"But yours is so much better," I complained, reluctantly filling my own plate with food.

Percy kept eyeing me until he was sure I wouldn't take anymore of his food. "So, what did you guys do?"

"Eh," I started. "Looked at clouds, ate berries, well, everyone but me at least. Went down to the beach where Ellie gave us appple murex shells, won a water fight, met Sakura, Cade, and Jake. Ellie re-introduced us to Alex and they went up to lunch with their siblings. I was skipping, but Finn decided to walk me to lunch instead. Yours?"

Percy was staring at me with his mouth slightly open. "A water fight?"

"Yep," I agreed, tearing into a bun. "They forgot I was the daughter of Poseidon and had a splash war, when Ellie asked me what I was doing. They remembered only when I told them and had a 10 foot wave above their heads."

"Ah," Percy said faintly. "Does this sort of stuff happen often with you guys?"

"Well, not the water fight, but pretty much everything else. Ellie leads us on strange activities." I smiled at the incredulous look that Percy had on his face and kept eating. "You know a bird could land in your mouth."

"Huh," said Percy, staring at his food, disregarding my last remark.

"So," I prompted. "What did you do?"

Percy jumped. "Me? Oh, nothing much. Trained with Annabeth, that was about it."

"What were you training with?" I mumbled, mouth full of food. "Sorry."

"Riptide, my sword," Percy said, finally going back to eating. "It doubles as a pen, and I carry it with me everywhere."

My mouth dropped open. "Cool!"

Percy smiled at my reaction. "I'll show it to you tonight," he promised.

We continued eating in silence. When our plates were clean and we were getting ready to leave, Percy stopped me.

"What was that about a bird landing in my mouth?" he asked, grinning.

"Oh!" My hand flew to my mouth. "I didn't think you heard me," I muttered, embarrassed.

"Well I did and I want to know what it's all about," Percy said, folding his arms and tapping his foot.

"Um...well," I stalled. Percy gave me the eye and I knew I would have to explain. "It's a saying that I use when someone's mouth has been open for awhile and I want them to close it," I rushed out.

Percy stared at me. "I don't think I'll ever understand you," he mumbled under his breath.

I smiled tentatively at him. "Can I go now?"

"I suppose," Percy sighed, shaking his head.

"Thanks!" I said excitedly, taking a step to where my friends were waiting. Then I turned back and hugged Percy.

"Um..." Percy mumbled, awkwardly putting his arms around me in a hug.

"Love you, bro!" I called, waving to him after I pulled away. He stood there watching me go with a confused expression on his face.

"Bye!" he called after Annabeth poked him.

As I breezed past my friends, I shouted to them, "Let's go!"

They all grinned and raced after me. Once far enough away, from what I don't know, I stopped. My friends caught up to me and I smiled happily at them. And then Autumn came up and smacked me on the head.

"What was that for?" I cried, holding my head.

"For saying bro," Autumn replied simply. "You're banned, remember?"

I groaned, remembering. A while back at school, I tried saying "Thanks, bro", but was shot down. Apparently I say it funny and its weird to be coming out of my mouth when I say large words that my friends don't understand. Like perspicacious. It means with acute mental vision or discernment; keen. It was first used in 1640 and has a Latin root. Is it just me, or is Autumn right? I don't know, all I know is that I'm banned from saying all slang words.

"What was that all about?" asked Toni, panting, hands on knees.

I shrugged. "Not quite sure. I'm just REALLY happy right now," I said by way of explanation.

Ellie just nodded, happy herself. Autumn rolled her eyes and Lilah looked at me confused. I don't normally do things without explanation. I always had a plan!

"So...now what?" Toni asked, breath back.

"Dunno," Ellie said, glancing around. "Where are we?"

"It appears that we are in a forest," I said.

"TREES!" exclaimed Lilah, running to one and hugging it.

The rest of us just sighed. Lilah loves trees and nature and we all have learned how deal with that.

"Wanna explore?" asked Ellie, jumping up and down.

"Why not?" Autumn said, following Ellie who was already inside.

Lilah looked sadly at her tree. "Goodbye, tree! I'll come back and see you soon!" Then she took off after Autumn and Ellie, grabbing Toni and my arms as she did so.

Ellie kept running until she reached a clearing, where we all stopped to catch our breath.

"What now?" Ellie asked, once we had caught our breath.

"Why not play hide-and-seek?" Lilah asked sensibly.

Ellie gaped at her. "That's a good idea!" she yelled, running away. "You seek!"

Lilah shrugged. "'Kay, I'll seek!"

Toni, Autumn and I all ran in separate directions. I could hear Lilah counting and I grinned to myself. Hiding closest, I was told, was the best way to hide. Sure enough, Lilah went right past my hiding spot of juniper. A few minutes later, I heard Lilah shout "Found you!" and the corresponding groan. I smiled slightly, one down! I crouched down for a long wait when I heard a girl's voice right next to me.

"What are you doing?" the voice asked as I fell down in surprise.

"Um...playing hide-and-seek," I said confusedly, rubbing my head and squinting for the owner of the voice.

"What's that?" the voice asked again.

"It's...a game that you play. One person counts and the others hide. And I'm hiding so be quiet!" I hissed, still looking for the speaker.

"Huh..." said the voice, a little quieter. "What are you looking for?"

"You," I replied.

"I'm right here," said the voice, appearing in front of me.

"Oh!" I exclaimed. The owner was a shorter girl who wore a green dress. But that wasn't the weird thing-her eyes were tinted green. "Who are you?"

"I'm Juniper, girlfriend of Grover, The Lord of the Wild," she said proudly.

"That's lovely," I replied, having no idea who Grover was.

"Who are you?" Juniper asked, sitting down by me. "I don't get many visitors."

"Marina Pepps, daughter of Poseidon, sister to Percy," I explained.

Juniper's eyes widened. "Percy has a sister?"

"Yup," I sighed. "Do you know him?"

"Of course I do!" she squealed. "Grover is his best friend! I can't believe he has a sister now!"

"Huh," I said. Percy is full of surprises. "Who is Grover, exactly?"

"He's the best satyr around!" Juniper said. "He rescued Percy when he was 12 and they've been friends ever since! He always picks him to go on quests."

"Interesting," I replied. I should ask him about that tonight, I thought to myself. "And, no offense, but may I ask you what you are? I'm sorry I don't know."

"I'm a tree nymph," Juniper said, a little disappointedly.

"No way!" I whisper-shouted. "That's so cool! That's why your eyes are tinged with green? Because of the chlorophyll?"

"Yes, that's why," Juniper said brightening.

"My friend Lilah is going to love you! She loves trees!" I grinned, thinking of Lilah's reaction.

Juniper smiled then. "Then I can't wait to meet her!" A minute passed with Juniper staring at me.

"What?" I asked. "Do I have something on my face?"

"No," she said, still staring at me.

"Then why are you staring at me?" I panicked. I don't like when people stare at me. Mostly because I can't stare back. If I try, I end up smiling and laughing.

"You look a lot like Percy," Juniper said smiling a little.

I rolled my eyes. "I know. When I first saw him it was like looking in a mirror."

Juniper nodded. "Yes, but it'a more than that. You have the same expressions."

I raised my eyebrows. "Haven't heard that one yet," I muttered to myself. Over the course of the day when I was around other people, I could hear their mutterings about me. It was quite annoying, but I couldn't tell them off. Oh well. I had endured worse mutterings.

"So," Juniper started. "How do you like Camp Half-Blood so far?"

"Oh, it's lovely," I smiled. "Everyone is so nice! Not that I've met many of them, but the people that I have met are very kind."

Juniper leaned in excitedly. "Who have you met? What are they like?"

"Hold on," I laughed, putting my hands up. "I've met Sakura from Persephone, Cade from Aphrodite, Jake from Hephaestus, Alex from Apollo, Annabeth and Finn from Athena. Know any of them?"

Juniper smiled. "Yes! I know Annabeth, Percy's girlfriend. She is very nice to me and visits sometimes. And Sakura, of course. He comes in to find flowers and things like that. Finn, sounds familiar," she tapped her chin. "He might've come in with Annbeth or something."

"Oh?" I asked, trying not to sound to interested. Finn was an enigma that I wanted to solve.

"Yes I think so," Juniper said thoughtfully, tapping her chin.

I sighed. Seemed like that was all I was going to get out of Juniper. We continued talking until I heard a branch snap. I turned my head to find the source of the noise. It seemed to have come from the north, but south trees were waving. I narrowed my eyes. What was going on? I heard another rustle to my left. I whipped around and screamed. Ellie was right in front of me, clothes a little dirty.

"HOLY FLIP!" I screamed, trying to scoot backwards away from her.

Toni came at me from the north, Lilah south, and Autumn right. They closed in on me and I kept screaming bloody murder. Then they stopped and cracked up.

"You should have seen your face!" Autumn laughed, clutching her sides.

"It was so funny!" Toni agreed, wheezing.

I gaped at them. "WHAT THE FLIP?!" I yelled, trying to stop my pounding heart. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Ellie couldn't talk she was laughing so hard. Lilah tried to explain between laughs, but couldn't quite get it out. Juniper looked startled and very confused.

Once they finally calmed down, I demanded once again why they did that. Juniper nodded vigorously. I don't think my friends realized that she was there.

"You were just in a perfect position to scare," Ellie said smiling and still giggling a little.

"Hey!" Juniper shouted indignantly. "That's not a very good reason!"

Toni looked surprisingly at Juniper. "Who are you?"

"This," I gestured. "Is Juniper, a tree nymph, girlfriend to Grover, and my new friend."

Lilah brightened. "Tree nymph? I love trees!"

"Is this your friend you were telling me about?" Juniper whispered to me.

"Yes," I whispered back. Juniper was in for a talk about nature! And her being a nymph!

Juniper and Lilah got to talking about trees, ignoring me. Toni, Autumn, and Ellie came and sat by me.

"Sorry Marina," they chorused, hugging me.

"Thank you," I grumbled good-naturedly. "But try not to do it again."

"Okay," they agreed, still hugging me.

"Yeah, you can stop hugging me now," I said, trying to squirm out of their death trap of love.

"Never!" they cried, hugging me tighter still.

I sighed. I was going to die because of a hug. Worst. Way. To. Die. EVER! I gave up and sat there limply, making them support me. Then, unexpectedly, they stopped and I almost fell backwards.

"Hey," I complained, rubbing my back.

Toni's grinning face looked over mine. "You said to let go!"

"True, but not like that!" I smiled as she helped me upright. Friends, they put you in situations, but help you out of them.

After Lilah and Juniper winded down their lengthy conversation of all things in nature, we decided to keep playing hide-and-seek with Juniper. Juniper was by far the best hider we've ever seen. She's always the last to be found, no matter who's looking. We continued playing until almost dusk.

"Finally! Found you, Juniper!" Autumn cried, pulling back some branches.

She smiled happily. "This is fun!"

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Yeah, 'cause you always win."

"Oh no!" she said sadly, looking at the sky. "It's almost time for dinner for you. You have to go eat and not play this wonderful game with me."

"We'll come back!" Lilah promised, hugging Juniper. "We will!"

"I believe you," Juniper said hugging Lilah back. "Maybe I will come see you too!"

"Do it!" we encouraged. We then left Juniper in the spot where we first befriended her. "Bye!" we waved.

"See you soon!" she called, waving back.

We soon arrived at the edge of the forest and Lilah hugged her tree again. "See you tomorrow!" she called, leaving her beloved tree behind as we headed to dinner.

"Food food food food!" sang Ellie, skipping ahead of us.

"You have a one track mind, you know that?" Toni rolled her eyes.

"Do not!" Ellie stuck her tongue out.

"Do too!" Toni shot back. Which resulted in a word fight, Autumn and Lilah cheering on the sidelines. I watched in amusement, not taking sides. We reached the hall, Toni and Ellie calling a truce so they could eat. We each went our separate ways, to sit next to our siblings. I sat by myself, as Percy had not yet arrived. I smiled and swung my feet, thinking about our jam-packed day.

"So, whatcha doing?" asked a familiar voice.

I turned to him happily, for it was Percy. "Thinking about my absolutely brilliant day. You?"

"Just wondering if I'm going to keep catching you spacing out" Percy said, leaning on his elbows.

"Probably!" I grinned at him. "I'm quite special, you know."

"I know," Percy muttered. "What did you do after lunch?"

"Oh, just played hide-and-seek in the forest. How about you?" I asked, looking intently at his face, thinking of what Juniper said about our facial expressions.

"The forest?" Percy asked faintly. "What did you meet in there?"

I shrugged. "Just Juniper. Why? Are there dangerous creatures in the forest?"

"Yes. Don't ever go in there without me, okay?" Percy said sternly. "I wouldn't want my new sister getting eaten before I get to know her!"

"Okay," I agreed softly. "Sounds good."

"Good," he nodded. "By the way, you start training tomorrow."

"Yay!" I said, hugging my amazing brother. "What's first?"

Percy raised an eyebrow. "Um...it's right here," he said, pushing it towards me.

"Hooray! Greek is first!" I pumped.

"I don't think anyone has ever been so excited to learn Greek. Not even the Athenians," Percy said, stunned.

I grinned at him. "Then they are not that bright!"

Percy shook his head in amazement and remarked under his breath. "It had to be me."

I frowned at him and was about to say something back, but then food appeared to distract me. "Yum!" I said, picking up some amazing looking food. We stopped talking and started eating and didn't stop until our plates were clean.

"Ug..." Percy groaned rubbing his stomach.

"Uh..." I agreed. So much food!

Chiron stood up and everyone fell silent and turned to him. "Now that you all have eaten, some announcements. Campfire tomorrow and our 5 new recruits are starting classes, so if they look lost, they probably are. Help them; you know how it was to be new."

Everyone shared smirks and I heard an echoing whisper, "Newbies". Inside, I groaned. I hated being the new kid-all of my friends did. Looks like we were going to have to go through it once again. And with teenagers carrying weapons. Chiron ended his speech saying good night and ushering us out the door. I leaped up, running to my friends. Tonight, I was going to make sure that I was able to say good night to them. Apparently, they had the same idea and ran to meet me in the middle. We all hugged in a big circle.

"'Night guys!" Ellie said happily. "See you tomorrow!"

"Gotcha," Autumn said, winking at Ellie.

"Good night," said Lilah softly.

"Love you guys! See you in the morning!" Toni said smiling.

"Sweet dreams!" I grinned t my beloved friends. "I shall see you in the morn!"

We then broke up, each going our separate ways with our siblings. I skipped over to Percy. "Okay! Ready to go now!" I smiled at him.

He raised his eyes to the heavens. "All right then. You go on ahead, I'm going to walk Annabeth to her cabin. Is that okay?" Percy asked worriedly, eyebrows scrunched together, glancing at Annabeth.

I nodded wisely. "Of course," I said imperiously, backing away and winking at my brother. "See you at the cabin!"

I then turned around and walked away, smiling slightly. Percy was so funny, asking me if I was okay to go to our cabin. Probably just anxious, I thought. With having to think about his new sister and wanting to be with Annabeth. I was almost to my cabin when Finn came up.

"Hey," I said, glancing up at him. "What's up?"

He shrugged, hands in pockets, looking down. "Eh. Excited for Greek tomorrow?" He asked slyly, looking up at my face.

I lit up. "Yes! Super excited! Thrilled!"

"You are probably the first person to be excited for learning Greek," Finn laughed, shaking his head. "I wasn't even that excited!"

I grinned sheepishly, ducking my head. "Percy said the same thing."

"I can imagine that," he smiled at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Uh huh."

Finn shuffled his feet. "Well, good night Marina. See you tomorrow for lessons." He shot a quick smile in my direction and loped off to his own cabin.

I shook my head as I entered my cabin. Silly boys. I went immediately to my bunk and found a pile of extra clothes on it, along with a note. I picked it up curiously. Who would have done this for me? I opened it and read it rapidly. Smiling, I put it down. It was from Annabeth. Maybe Percy have asked her do it, I thought, putting away most of the clothing, except the pajamas. The note read,

"Dear Marina,

Here are some clothes for you. I knew you didn't have any extras and I remember having the same problem. Sou brought some for you, knowing how it feels. Hope to get to know you better!

Sincerely, Annabeth".

Oh well! Doesn't matter, I thought, going back to the bathroom to change. It was very nice of her to do it. Once changed and ready for bed, I hopped to my bed and snuggled down inside it, waiting for Percy. I tried to keep my eyes open, but I was sooo tired. Just as I finally, wearily, closed my eyes, I heard him come in quietly. He came by and pulled my covers up higher and laid his hand on my forehead.

"Good night Marina," he whispered.

I mumbled good night in response. The last thing I saw before giving in to sleep was his smile. It flashed brightly in the darkness and I fell deep asleep, not to be woken until morning.

Here it is! Again, sorry it took so long. Next five chapters will be in point of views, so don't be confused! (I will reiterate this fact for each chapter.) Have fun waiting! ;)


	7. Chapter 7: Breakfast

I woke up feeling groggy, seeming to remember having a dream. I shook my head, trying to clear it. Nope! Gone, I thought. I tried to shake the foreboding feeling that the dream meant something, but it wouldn't disappear. I shrugged it off, getting up to shower. After getting dressed for the day, I checked the time. "7:30? Wow, I must have been tired!" I was surprised. Well, Percy would be happy for getting an extra 47 minutes of sleep. I bounced over to his bed and started to sing, just like yesterday, but this time it was "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid. After a few rounds, he groaned and turned over, pulling his pillow over his head. I smiled and sang louder. Halfway through, he sat up, hands over ears.

"Stop singing!" he yelled.

I grinned. "But of course, dear brother!"

"Why me?" Percy groaned, putting his face in his hands.

"It's penance for your sins," I said solemnly, face grave.

Percy looked up and raised his eyebrows. "What sins?"

I shrugged. "No idea. I was just sent to punish you. So, pray do tell."

He thought for a moment. "Nope. Can't think of anything."

I tried to smile mysteriously. "Then maybe it's for a sin that you will commit."

"Uh huh," Percy said skeptically.

I stared at him a minute longer before giggling.

"What?" he asked, frowning.

"That's the longest I've ever gone with a straight face!" I smiled hugely. "Score!"

Percy sighed and shook his head. "I'm going to shower before you get any weirder."

"Okay!" I sat there happily, his words not sinking in. Then I frowned. "Hey!"

Percy threw a grin in my direction before hopping in the bathroom. Which was good, as I had thrown his pillow at him. It actually hit the space where he was. My jaw dropped. That never happens! I grinned to myself. This is going to be a terrific day, I just knew it! Percy came out of the shower dressed and ready to go. I jumped up.

"Ready?" I asked excitedly. Time for breakfast and then off to lessons!

Percy smirked. "Yep!" Then he ran by, ruffling my hair as he flew by.

"Hey!" I shouted. "No fair!" I madly tried to fix my hair.

I glanced in a polished bronze mirror and sighed. Still messy, but as good as it was going to get. I ran out, following Percy. Lining up like yesterday, the wait was a little longer to eat.

"Come on!" I shifted from foot to foot.

"Antsy much?" asked an amused Percy.

"I want chocolate chip peanut butter pancakes," I complained.

Percy opened his mouth, but was interrupted by the conch signaling breakfast. He grinned. "Saved by the conch," he joked.

I smiled in response, walking with Percy to breakfast, sadly not skipping. We entered the pavilion and waved to our friends. Sitting down, I ate my wonderful pancakes and Percy had another boring beginning to his morning. Once finished, we pushed our plates away simultaneously.

"So, ready for your day?" asked Percy seriously.

"I think so," my nerves said, kicking in. "Where do I have to go again?"

Percy explained where and what I was doing throughout the day. Just as he was finishing up, Chiron stood up. We looked to him and waited.

"Good morning everyone," he began pleasantly. "Time for lessons, but first a reminder." Chiron paused, looking around the hall. "Help our newest members out if they get lost or need help. No tricks," he added sharply, to the Hermes cabin.

A resounding groan echoed from them. I saw two of them grumbling together. I frowned. What were they planning? Then I shrugged. Hopefully, whatever they're planning, is something we can handle. Chiron then dismissed us. Percy got up and smiled at me.

"Good luck," he whispered, squeezing my arm. "Here comes Finn."

I smiled back at him. "Thanks."

We shared a grin until Finn reached us. He cocked an eyebrow. "What're you two up to?"

"Nothing," we answered in unison.

"Uh huh," Finn said disbelievingly. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, I think so." I got up to stand next to Finn.

"'Kay, let's go," Finn grabbed my elbow.

"Bye Percy!" I waved at me with my free arm.

He smiled and waved back. "Have fun!" Annabeth, who was next to him, also waved.

Finn and I walked to the entrance where my friends were, with other half-bloods, most of whom I did not know.

"Hey," Finn inclined his head. "Trainers?"

Two guys, both tall, but one dark brown hair and brown eyes, the other blond hair and blue eyes, scowled at him. "Yeah, just like you, _wise guy_."

My eyes widened. "I take it hey don't like you much?" I leaned in, whispering to him.

Finn smiled pleasantly. "Nope!" he replied out of the side of his mouth.

"Huh," I muttered. "Hello," I said smiling at them. "I'm Marina."

Autumn, who was standing next to another guy who was tall with blond hair and teal eyes, grinned ecstatically. "This is Rick and he's going to take me to the training arena to teach me to fight with a dagger!"

'Rick' gave her a look. "My name is Lenny."

Autumn frowned. "Not any more!"

I hid a grin. Nothing gets in Autumn's way.

Toni rolled her eyes. "This is Josh," she gestured to the blond guy standing next to her. "And this is Nathan," gesturing to the brown haired guy.

"Hello!" I said again. "Where are you guys going?" I asked Toni and Lilah.

"To pick out our weapons and then train," Lilah explained softly.

I turned to Ellie. "And you?"

She grinned happily. "We are going to the archery range place!"

The guy standing next to her gave Alex an incredulous look, as if to say, "We are trusting her with a bow and arrow why?" He looked like the embodiment of Niall Horan from One Direction with spiky blond hair and blue eyes. Which I'm sure Ellie has already noticed. Niall happens to be her favorite of that boy band, and talks about him a lot. Ellie apparently noticed me looking at him and her grin grew impossibly wider.

"This," she announced dramatically. "Is Niall."

I internally face-palmed. Of course it would be. Well, I knew who was Ellie's favorite at the camp.

Finn, ignoring my internal reaction, raised an eyebrow. "Niall? Why are you here? I didn't think Hermes would train."

Niall shrugged. "Well, first off, I was dared to by Travis and Connor, and secondly, I admire her ability to eat."

"Ah," Finn said, nodding. "I see."

I frowned a little. I had no clue what was going on and nor did my friends. Ellie wiggled around, bored. "Can we go now?" she complained.

Niall turned toward her and Alex. "Sure."

Alex nodded and grabbed Ellie's arm. "Come on, let's go get you fitted out with a bow."

Niall waved as they left and we waved back.

"Good luck!" called Autumn. "You're going to need it!"

Nathan and Josh glanced at each other before Josh spoke. "We should go too."

Lilah smiled. "Okay!"

Toni linked arms with her and then they walked off to the armory.

Rick raised an eyebrow at Autumn. "Ready to get your dagger?"

"I was born ready!" Autumn said, grinning.

Rick rolled his eyes and motioned for her to follow. "Come on."

I turned to Finn. "Looks like it just us!"

"Yep," Finn nodded. "Let's go," he said, pulling me to a spot only he knew.

I glanced back, looking at my friends' retreating figures. We headed out in a star shape, all going in different directions.

Yay, doneness! Sorry for lying last chapter about how this chapter being a POV. I decided it would be too awkward, so next chapter FOR SURE will be POV. Have fun guessing who's it will be!


	8. Chapter 8: Ellie's POV

Well, if you guessed Ellie, you were right! Here she is, and have fun!

Morning, Ellie

I was skipping between Alex and Niall, smiling all the while.

"Off to the shooting range!" I sang happily.

Alex sighed and put her face in her hands. I don't know what's wrong with her. She seems to do that a lot around me. I wonder why...oh well!

We were walking, or skipping for me, when Niall and Alex went off path.

"Hey! Where're you going?" I shouted after them, running now. They seemed to be heading to a building. Maybe they're getting snacks? "_Snacks,"_ I thought hungrily.

When I caught up with them at the building, miraculously not falling, I was saddened to be told that we weren't there for snacks. "Why not?" I complained, dragging my feet.

"Because you need to get fitted for your crossbow," Alex said, marching over to a cabinet.

I stood by Niall. _"Niall..."_ Man, I will never get used to that. Alex grunted, opening the cabinet and then frowned at Niall.

"Come here and help, muscles," she said. Niall sighed and walked over. He reached in to grab something and a whole bunch of stuff came out, knocking him to the ground.

I stood there mouth open for a minute until it sank in. Then I started laughing. "Ha ha! All the stuff fell on you!"

Niall glared at me, but I didn't care. I was too busy laughing at him. Until Alex tapped me on the arm and I fell over.

"Gah!" I yelled. "Don't ya know not to sneak up on me?" I glared at Alex and Niall. Niall was laughing, clutching his sides and rolling around. I gave him my evil eye and he just laughed harder. "Huh," I said grumpily, crossing my arms.

Alex gasped. "Niall! Stop! You're crushing the equipment!" She started moving all the stuff out of the way. Niall sobered up and helped her. I stayed on the ground, watching them. When Niall turned around, I stuck my tongue out at him. He did the same to me and I made a face back. He also made a face and wham! We had a face war. Alex clapped her hands together and nodded in satisfaction when she turned to us. Her happy, satisfied face fell and a confused face replaced it.

"What are you doing?" She asked, exasperated. When both Niall and I opened our mouths to explain, she held her hands up. "I take it back, I don't want to know."

I gave Niall a questioning look. What was she talking about? We were perfectly normal people having a face-making war. He shrugged. I guess he didn't think what we were doing was strange either. Alex reminds me of my friends that way. It's so strange... After we called a truce on our war, I _so_ won, Alex made me try out all these crossbows. It was very boring, but finally we found one that fit me. Stupid shortness. Anyway, after all that, we made it to the shooting range. It was very exciting, but a little disappointing. No one was there! It was empty, not a person in sight!

"Why isn't there anybody here?" I complained. "I wanted to see some awesome shooting!"

Alex rolled her eyes. "It's standard protocol for a newbie to have the range with no one around."

"Why?" I demanded.

"For distractions. And so no one gets killed." Alex muttered the last part. I frowned. If I'm a daughter of Apollo, shouldn't I have awesome aim and stuff? I said the last part out loud. Niall looked thoughtful. Did I just make a smart remark? Wow, I'm good!

Alex sighed. Again. "There are other aspects of Apollo. Yes, most of us are excellent archers, but some prefer the healing side of Apollo."

"Oh yeah," I said, remembering. "Marina told me about that. But I wanna shoot!"

Niall grinned. "I would too."

I turned to him. "You can't shoot?" I asked, puzzled.

Niall shook his head. "I prefer swords myself," he admitted.

I stared at him. "Suit yourself," I shrugged. Alex then showed me how to put bolts in and how to hold it so I wouldn't get hurt. Niall watched on the sidelines. I frowned to myself. I didn't particularly want him to go blabbing to everyone if I made a mistake. Oh well. Not like I could do anything about it. Alex moved behind me.

"Ready?" she asked.

"Yep!" I said happily, raising my crossbow.

Alex raised my arm a little higher, then let go and stepped back by Niall.

I grinned to myself. I was gonna hit the center! I hope... I took aim and pulled the trigger. I flinched slightly at the kickback, but it wan't too bad. Alex came upto me. "Ready to go see how you did?"

"Yeah!" I gaped at her. "Duh!"

We strolled down to the target thing to see how I did on my first shot. Oh, I probably should tell you how far away it was. Ya, good plan. It was 25 yards away. I think. Oh well!

"Nicely done," Alex said approvingly, looking at my awesome shot.

"Yeah!" I yelled, breaking out dancing.

Niall raised his eyebrows. "Uh, nice dance moves."

"I know, right?" I said, still dancing around. "I totally rock at shooting!"

Niall shook his head and smirked. "Betcha can't get dead center."

I gaped at him, stopping my dance party. "Can too! If I win, you have to carry me around all day!"

Niall shrugged. "Okay. If I win?"

"You get to carry me around all day!" I smiled cheekily at him.

"No."

"Oh..." I said disappointedly.

"If I win, I get your desserts for a week!" Niall said triumphantly.

"No!" I gasped, horrified. "Not my babies!"

"Your babies," Niall smirked, crossing his arms.

I stared at him a minute longer before running back to my bow. "Last one there is a rotten egg!"

Niall ran after me, and Alex after him, but no one could beat me! Muahahaha! As predicted, I got there first."Ha ha, you lose!" I shouted back at the slowpokes. I started dancing again, celebrating.

"No Ellie! Your bow!" Alex yelled at me, her voice panicked.

What? I turned around to face her, stepping on something in the process. "OW!" I screamed, falling sideways, clutching my foot.

"ELLIE!" was the last thing I heard before passing out.

Five minutes later...

I woke with a start, my eyes snapping open. The first thing I saw was Niall's face, close to mine. "AHH!" I screamed, pushing him back.

"Ellie! You're okay!" Niall and Alex said with relief.

"Yeah yeah yeah. I'm fine!" I grumbled, sitting up. "Just don't lean over me like that."

"Alright," Niall said, a smile breaking out over his face.

"Hey," I frowned. "Why am I on the ground?"

"You don't remember?" asked Alex anxiously, her face sneaking into my line of vision.

"No..." I said, confused. What was going on?

"You were dancing because you beat us here and you stepped on your bow and shot yourself in the foot," Niall said frowning. "You really don't remember?"

"Nope," I shook my head. Then it hit me. "I SHOT MYSELF IN THE FOOT!?"

Alex hid a grin. "Yes. We were just about to take you to the infirmary when you woke up."

"OHMIGOSH! My friends are gonna laugh so much at me!" I sobbed the last part. They always warned me about using weapons and now it came true. Even the foot part. Sad...

Alex rolled her eyes. "Well, you'll be fixed up soon."

I perked up. "Will they know?"

"Probably," Alex shrugged. "We need Chiron, so it's possible that he told them."

"Aw man!" I complained, rolling to my side. I blocked out whatever they were saying, I was too concerned about my emo sulking corner. Yes I know it's not a corner, deal with it!

'"Kay Ellie, time to go," Alex said. "Niall, you're up."

I turned my head. What was going on? I wish I didn't use my emo sulking corner and listened...oh well! I had just sorted that out when I felt arms around me. "What are you doing?!" I yelled, kicking and flailing my arms.

"Carrying you to the infirmary?" asked Niall, confused. "We just talked about this..."

"Oh yeah..." I faked understanding. "Carry on, then!"

Niall rolled his eyes. "Pun intended?"

"What pun?" I asked.

Niall raised an eyebrow.

I thought back. "Oh! That pun! No. Not intended."

Niall shrugged. "Okay. Ready?"

"For what?" I asked. Man, why do people have to be so confusing?

"To be carried," Niall sighed.

"Do you have to ask?" Yay! I love being carried! Even if it's because I shot myself in the foot. Niall put his arms under me and pulled me up, bridal style. I clasped my arms around his neck as he started walking. I looked around in amazement. "Is this how you see everyday?"

"Uh, yes?" Niall replied.

"I LOVE BEING TALL!"

"You realize that you're not actually..." Niall started.

"Hush. Don't ruin my dream," I put my finger to his mouth to quiet him. He shrugged and kept walking. Alex was in front, leading the way. A while later, or so it seemed to me, we arrived at the hospital. I would say the other word, but I forgot it. It's too long for normal people. (Yeah Marina, you're NOT normal!) Niall carried me in and put me on an empty bed. Chiron came in then and took a look at my foot. Apparently I did a good job shooting it. I was proud, until Niall told me that was a bad thing.

"Don't worry. You did good for your first day." Alex patted my shoulder and smiled at me. "Niall? Will you watch her while I talk to Chiron?"

"Sure!" Niall said, sitting in a chair next to my bed. At first I was sad that I needed to be watched, but then it hit me! I watched Alex walk away with Chiron. Then I turned to Niall and asked him the question that had been bugging me since I first met him. "Niall?" I began.

"Yeah?" he asked, tilting his head.

"Can I ask you a question?" Now was the time!

"You just did," Niall pointed out. I frowned at him. "But you can ask another one," he amended.

"Yay!" I said happily.

"Can...can you...sing?" I asked hesitantly, crossing my fingers.

"Sing? You want to know if I can sing?" Niall asked disbelievingly. "That's what you wanted to know?"

I frowned and crossed my arms. "Well, can you?"

Niall stared at me. "I don't know. I don't normally sing."

"Sing for me!" I gasped. Maybe I would discover a new Niall!

"Uh..." Niall kept staring at me. What was with him? It's perfectly normal to ask someone to sing for you.

"Please?" I begged, giving him my patented puppy eyes.

"Fine," Niall sighed, taking a deep breath. He just opened his mouth and was about to sing! When Chiron came with Alex right behind him and interrupted him. I scowled at them, angry that they interrupted Niall's singing debut.

"-your foot will be fine. I'm going to fix it now, so get something to squeeze. It might hurt," Chiron was saying when I tuned in. I looked around in alarm. Like what? Just then, Niall slipped his hand in mine. "Thanks," I whispered. And then Chiron healed my foot. I won't go into details, but it hurt. A lot. And I'm pretty sure I broke Niall's hand by squeezing it too hard, but he assured me it didn't hurt at all. Maybe I'll give him my dessert for payback...hmm, I'll have to think that one over. Anyways, once my foot was healed, it was time for lunch.

"Lunch!" I exclaimed happily while skipping. It felt awesome to use my foot again. Although now I have to walk... We arrived at the dining hall just as everyone else was leaving. I frowned. That meant we were late. I followed Alex to our table where we were served BBQ. Niall sat alone at his table because of stupid camp rules. I asked Alex about them, but she didn't know why either. But she gave me a strange look, as if she couldn't understand what I was saying with my mouth full of food.

"Alex eats slowly," I thought as I chewed my way through my sixth chicken leg. I glanced over at Niall approvingly. He knew how to eat! From eating, my mind drifted to my friends and our lunch time rituals of arguing. It always seemed to be me arguing with someone. Autumn, Lilah, Marina, Toni. It changed everyday. All too soon in my opinion, lunch ended.

"Where to now?" I asked Alex as we walked out of the dining hall.

"Well, you could either go shoot more or you could learn how to heal," she shrugged. "It's up to you."

Hm, get better at shooting or learn how to heal myself when-no IF!- I hurt myself again... Maybe I could heal my friends! They would be so surprised! "Healing!"

Alex raised her eyebrows. "Really? You said that you didn't want to before."

Niall chuckled. "She wants to learn, so she can heal herself."

I glared at him. "Yeah, and when you're hurt and I'm the only one who can help you, I won't because you made fun of me!"

"Okay," Niall held up his hands in surrender.

"That's what I thought," I huffed and crossed my arms.

Alex watched with amusement. "I'll take you to Will. He can teach healing better than I can."

I gasped. "You can't leave me! You're my sister!" I ran to Alex and hugged her tightly around the middle. She stumbled, but caught herself. "Good" I thought. I wasn't about to let go.

"Um, okay," Alex choked, patting my head.

"Yay!" I looked up at her. "We can go now."

"You have to let me go first," she wheezed.

"Oh," I said disappointedly as I let my sister go. I glanced at Niall, who looked at though he was about to laugh. I shot him my evil eye and he sobered up. I smiled inside. My evil eye works every time. Alex led the way to our cabin to find the expert healer guy. I was skipping by Niall when I saw Autumn. She was with some blond haired guy whose name I don't remember. I waved, but she didn't see me. "Aw! Sad!" I thought. Then my evil side came out... I ran over to her and bopped her on the head and ran away, laughing manically. Niall gave me a confused look as I ran past him. "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE!" I screamed at him. "SHE WILL COME AFTER YOU!" He looked skeptical until he glanced back. Then he started runnin', 'cuz Autumn was comin'.

"I'LL GET YOU, ELLIE!" Autumn yelled, chasing me and Niall. She finally caught up to me when I was cleverly hiding behind Alex. She bopped me on the head for payback and then ran away back to whats-his-face. I sighed in defeat. I shall continue this fight another day! Alex looked disapprovingly at me as I leaned on my knees, trying to catch my breath. Niall mimicked me, and Alex sighed out loud. "What happened this time?"

"Nothing," I replied innocently. "Just a harmless game of bopping."

Niall glared at me. "Yeah. Harmless," he muttered. I shrugged. It was true that sometimes we got violent. But not recently I don't think... Once we regained our breath, Alex led us to the healer dude. "Will," she called. I skipped over to my bed and quickly made it. I didn't want Niall to think I was messy. When I came back into the conversation, Alex was hugging Will and whispering to him. I sat on my bed and waited to be noticed. Unless, it was like the time when my mom forgot me at a store for a day. Niall came and sat by me, looking around. "You sleep here? I expected it to be messier."

"Nope!" I smiled proudly. Ha! Totally fooled him! Will and Alex talked for a bit before she remembered me. "And this is Ellie," she added quickly, gesturing to me. "She wants to learn how to heal."

Will turned to me. "Hello Ellie. I'm Will Solace," he offered his hand, but I didn't take it. Instead, I hugged him. "Hi Will! I'm Ellie!" He patted my head a little awkwardly. I don't know why I get that reaction all the time... Niall stood then and pried me off of Will. "Do you do that to everyone you meet?" he whispered in my ear. I nodded. Of course! Will looked relieved that I was off him. I wonder why. "Hi Niall," he said, noticing him. Niall nodded at him.

"Now that we are all introduced," Alex began. "Can you teach Ellie how to heal?" I smiled and nodded excitedly.

"Sure," Will shrugged. "Are you staying?" he asked Niall.

"Yes he is," I said stoutly, trying to cross my arms but failing because Niall was still holding on to me.

"Sorry," he mumbled, letting go. Then he looked up at Will. "If you'll have me."

Will glanced at us and smiled slightly. "No problem." And began healing training! I would tell you all about it, but Will swore me to secrecy. Very secret stuff, healing is. Actually, not really. All you need is ambrosia, nectar, and some magic words. Oops! Said too much!

After healing

I skipped out of my cabin happily. Healing was a success and it was time for dinner! I stood at the very end of the line, waving at Lilah. I was ignoring Autumn for the time being and couldn't find Toni or Marina. And then the horn blew and it was time for food! I was halfway through eating my dessert when I felt someone behind me. I ignored them, going back to my food. Then, out of nowhere, a fork came and stole a bite of my triple chocolate brownies. "HEY!" I shouted, grabbing the hand.

"You owe me!" the owner of the hand said. I looked up. The thief was Niall.

I glared at him, giving him my most evil look. "Never steal my food," I said as murderessly as possible.

Niall smiled as he slowly lifted the fork to his mouth. "I. Just. Did."

My precious brownie was getting closer to his mouth. I couldn't take it. "NOO!" I screamed, launching myself at him. I got him around the middle and we fell over together. "NOT MY DESSERT!"

Everyone was staring at me, but I didn't care. I wanted my brownie back! Niall groaned under me. "Uh...no fair," he groaned. "I carried you..." I held on tighter.

"But I didn't shoot the target! I shot my foot!" I yelled at him. "There wasn't a bet anymore!" Alex wrapped her arms around me and lifted me off of Niall. By now there was a circle of campers around us. Setting me upright, Alex kept her arms around me. I sighed. She's getting to know me so well...

Some other camper helped Niall up. I crossed my arms in annoyance. No one was taking this seriously. Lilah, Autumn, Toni, and Marina appeared at my side.

Lilah shook her finger at me. "Ellie! You know better!" Autumn gave me a high five. Toni shook her head, trying not to laugh, and Marina told me off, telling me to apologize. Lilah quickly prodded me too, hopping on the apologize train.

"No," I said stubbornly. "He stole my food." Lilah gave me the Look, and I caved. "How can she do that?" I asked myself as I took the 3 steps over to Niall. He looked up at me. I shuffled my feet. "I'm sorry for tackling you. You can have the rest if my dessert if you want."

Niall looked at me warily. "I won't get attacked?"

"No. My friends talked me out of it," I shrugged.

Niall smiled then. "I can appreciate that, I guess." He stepped forward, meeting me in the middle. "I'm sorry too, for taking your dessert. Friends?"

"Friends," I agreed as I glomped him.

Fini! Finally, I know. I'm very sorry about that, hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. Hope you liked it and have a beautiful day!


	9. Chapter 9: Lilah's POV

Dedicated to my good friend GhostlyQueen9. Happy reading!

I sighed happily as I walked with Toni, Nathan, and Josh. Camp Half-Blood was such a pretty place, with lots of flowers and trees. As we passed them, I named them in my head. "Daffodil, lilac, rose, buttercup," A tinkling noise went along with my thoughts, but I didn't notice at first. After a few minutes though, I glanced around for it. _Maybe they have wind chimes!_ I thought hopefully. My dream was crushed when I looked over at Toni. She was fingering some metal and it was clanking together.

"Toni," I said, putting my hand on her arm.

"What?" she asked. I sighed internally. She never seems to notice when she's tinkering with something. I pointed at her hands. Toni looked down in surprise at her open hands. A perfect rose ring laid there. I gasped softly. It was beautiful! I stared at until Toni moved.

"Here Lilah," she said, putting on my finger. I smiled hugely. "Thanks!" I hugged her tightly.

"Uh huh. You can let go now," she reminded me. "Oh, sorry," I blushed, letting go. I'm sure Nathan gave me a funny look and I ducked my head. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another flower. "Dandelion" I thought, smiling to myself.

"Here we are," announced Nathan, opening the door. I went third, after Toni. "Thank you," I said softly to Nathan. He shut the door and someone turned the lights on. Reaching the doorway, I stopped in horror. Everywhere I looked, there was glinting metal. And glinting metal could only mean the thing I hate most... Guns.

"No! I won't go! Guns are bad!" I screamed at Nathan. "You tricked me!"

Nathan tried to move me, but I wasn't budging for the liar and gun user. "Lilah, just listen..." he tried talking.

"No! You don't get to talk you..you..gun-loving freak!" I turned around and yelled at him. I continued ranting at him, about the horrible-ness of guns and him for using them. To finish it off, I turned back around, arms crossed. "I'm not going to move for you, gun lover!" I felt satisfied. He wouldn't dare move me. Next thing I knew, I was being pushed into the room. "Eek!" I cried, running in the room myself. I don't like getting pushed. At all. "Not cool," I glared at him.

He shrugged. "Got ya in here, didn't I?"

I crossed my arms and looked at the floor, frowning. "But guns are bad," I whispered to myself.

Nathan sighed and stepped in front of me, putting his hands on my shoulders. "They. Aren't. Guns." he said slowly.

I glanced at his hands on my shoulders. He quickly removed them, muttering "Sorry." I looked up at him then. "If they aren't guns, what are they?" I accused.

Nathan gestured to the rack next to him. "They are swords and daggers and every other weapon but guns."

I refused to look at them. Metal=guns. Guns=bad. I heard Nathan sigh again and something rattle. Hah! I thought. That rattle must have been the trigger thingy or the whatcha-ma-call-it. Then I saw a bronze knife enter my field of vision.

"See?" Nathan said, holding the knife. "Not a gun."

"Oh," I said softly. "Sorry." I looked up apologetically. Then I heard "mace" and "Lilah". I perked up. "Mace!" I said happily. Toni raced by just then, grabbing my hand along the way and yelling, "Then let's go find one!"  
"Find what?" I panted as Toni dragged me somewhere.

"Your mace, silly!" Toni laughed. "Josh said that we have to get you outfitted first, since they might not have one that'll work for you."

"Why?" I asked, confused, still running with Toni.

"They might be to big for you," Toni said carefully, slowing down.

I narrowed my eyes. "What do you mean, 'too big'?" If it was a slight on my height...

Toni laughed, a little nervously, I thought. "Oh, you know," she started. I gave her my best glare. "He said that you...that you..." Toni stuttered.

"Keep talking." I motioned for her to keep going.

"That you might be to small for the maces!" Toni said quickly and cringed, knowing my wrath.

I whipped around to find Josh. Screw shyness! He insulted my height! "Hey!"

Josh looked surprised. "What?"

"Did you insult my height?" I asked quietly, but deadly. No one messes with my height. No one.

Josh raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Did you. Insult. My. Height." I asked slowly. Did he not hear me the first time?

"Oh that!" Josh laughed. He shrugged. "I was just saying that our maces might be to big for you."

I narrowed my eyes at him. "Strike one." Then I walked with Toni to the maces. Time flies when you threaten people! And one of the maces was perfect for me! In your face, Josh! Nathan was very nice about it though. I should apologise for calling him a gun-loving freak. I will at lunch, I thought. After I found my beautiful mace, we went looking for Toni's battle axe. It was nice, I guess, but not as nice as my mace! My mace, Miroslava (it means peaceful. And yes, it makes perfect sense), is silver with intricate designs all over. Her head has nine spiral flanges, a spike at the top, and she has a sword handle. She's so pretty. And, no, I'm not crazy. Anyways, once I was set up, Toni dragged us off to look for her battle axe.

"Wow! Look at the design! The balance! The precision!" Toni said excitedly, holding an axe up to her eye.

"Cool! Let's go!" Josh said, jumping off of the table he was sitting on.

"Hold on, I'm not choosing this one!" Toni exclaimed, putting the axe back. I rolled my eyes. Toni didn't choose anything lightly. We could be here for hours. But I smiled happily, clutching Miroslava and humming. I was used to Toni's deciding abilities, so I used that time to think about the garden I was going to start._ Hm, definitely needs a bench...and lots of lilies...roses...a willow tree...a pond with fish...maybe a small waterfall or two...hmm..._ I was in the midst of placing my willow tree in the middle of the pond when Nathan poked me. "Hey!" I said indignantly, rubbing my arm. I was used to Ellie's pokes, but his hurt more. I frowned up at him. "What was that for?"

"Sorry," Nathan apologised. "But Toni needs your help choosing an axe."

I looked over at Toni. She was currently holding two axes, one in each hand, weighing them and examining each of them. I sighed and walked over. "Why can't you decide?" I asked. _This time_ I added in my head.

Toni sighed heavily. It sort of sounded like a groan. "This one," she lifted the one in her left hand. "Is plain, so I could add whatever I want to it and that's cool, but it would take a long time. And this one," she said, lifting the one in her right hand, "is already decorated and very beautiful, so that would save me time. But I just don't know..." Toni frowned slightly.

Josh groaned, laying on a table. "Are they weighted okay?"

Toni made a face a Josh. "Yes, they're weighted just fine."

"Then do eenie-meenie-minie-moe and get it over with!" Josh said exasperated, sitting up and waving his arms around. I watched him with interest, waiting for his hand to hit one of the many weapons hanging from the ceiling. My wish was granted a second later. "Ow!" he yelled, clutching his hand. Toni grinned at me and winked.

"Poor Josh," she said sympathetically, walking over to him. "Do you want to go to the nurse?"

Josh narrowed his eyes at her. "You've decided?" he asked cautiously, holding his bleeding hand.

Toni smirked. "Nope!" I laughed quietly inside. Josh doesn't know what he's gotten into! It took another few minutes for Toni to make up her mind. Finally, she said, "Got it!"

"Yes!" Josh yelled. "Finally!" We had all started leaving when Josh noticed that Toni had both battle axes. "Why do you have them both?" he demanded.

Toni shrugged. "I'm going to work on the plain one in my spare time and train with the other one. That way I'll be able to see what I like and don't like to add or fix it on mine."

I smiled. "Good idea, Toni!" Josh looked a little suspicious, but let it go, thankfully. "Alright! Time to go to the training arena!" Josh said happily, walking a little ways ahead. Toni rolled her eyes.

"It wasn't that bad was it?" she asked.

"Come on Nathan, let's go train." I avoided Toni's question by grabbing Nathan's hand and catching up to Josh. Toni laughed behind me.

"Alright, alright." She caught up then, walking by Josh. "So, who's going to train us?"

Josh glanced at Nathan. I realised then that I was still holding his hand. I quickly let go, blushing and looking at the ground, hoping that he didn't realise that I was.

"Well?" Toni demanded, hands on hips. I giggled quietly to myself. Toni was NOT a patient person.

Josh rolled his eyes. "I'm going teach you, and Nathan will teach Lilah. Okay?" Toni nodded. We walked in silence until we reached the arena. "Me and Toni will be in the left corner and you and Lilah will be in the right, so we won't bump into each other. Clear?" Josh asked.

"Clear," I answered softly. Toni shrugged and Nathan nodded. Toni walked off with Josh and I heard them talking. _Probably insults and comebacks,_ I thought, knowing Toni. They would get along, I knew. As Nathan led me over to our corner, I noticed Autumn was with Rick in the centre. I waved at her and she grinned in response. Then she faced Rick again, concentrating on whatever he was telling her.

"Ready?" asked Nathan. I spun to face him. "Yup! Can't wait!" I smiled excitedly. Me and Miroslava will dominate!  
"Okay, hold her like this," Nathan demonstrated. "Then swing her around like that." I concentrated on what he said and tried it. "Wow! It worked!" I grinned happily. Nathan smiled. "You're pretty good."

I blushed. "Thanks." Nathan smiled at me again. "Now again," he said. I sighed. This move was very tiring. Nathan made me repeat it another ten times before moving on. _Of course,_ I thought. _It's better than making me hold it again._ When we first started, Nathan made me hold Miroslava for what felt like forever. Then he assigned me homework! Apparently to get the grip down, I have to hold her for ten minutes in the morning, lunch, and fifteen minutes after dinner.

"Again," Nathan called. I groaned inside. Miroslava was _heavy_ after awhile. Lifting her to swing, a horn blew, scaring me.

"Lunch!" Josh yelled, running to the exit with Toni in his heels. "I'm going to get you!" she yelled after him. "Lunch isn't going to stop that!" I giggled, looking at Nathan. He sighed but was laughing too. "He probably deserves that."  
I smiled. "So how did you become friends?" I asked. "You seem so different."

Nathan smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I know. He took me under his wing when I first got here and we've been friends ever since." He was quiet a moment before changing the subject. "So, how did you and your friends meet?"

"Well," I started. It was a looong story. Nathan raised an eyebrow. I smiled a little shyly. "Okay, we all met in Minnesota, where we are all originally from. Toni and Marina were already friends when I met Marina in 8th grade. That was the same year Ellie came to our school. We all became really good friends and then Autumn came a year later. Then, when we were sophomores, we learned that we were moving. We were heartbroken at first, but then we realised that we were all moving here! Our parents enrolled us in the Hampton School of Arts and here we all are, still together." I finished, smiling again. Nothing seems to break us apart.

"Wow," Nathan said, scratching his head. "That's pretty amazing."

"I know, we are still awed by how it worked out!" I shrugged.

Nathan smiled softly at me. "That's cool." I smiled up at him. Nathan sure didn't seem like the stereotypical son of Ares. "Lilah!" someone yelled, breaking our eye contact. I blushed and looked for the voice. Finally, I spotted the voice. "Sakura!" I said, surprised and a little disappointed. I looked back at Nathan. He gave me a sad smile. "See you after lunch," he said as he walked away. I watched him walk away, until Sakura reached me.

"Hey," he said, throwing his arm over my shoulders. "How was training?"

"Good. It went well," I said softy, clutching Miroslava. I hadn't realized that I was still holding her. She gave me a little comfort walking in lunch. I looked for my friends, but I could only find Marina and Autumn. "Toni was probably still chasing Josh," I thought. As for Ellie, I was a little worried. It wasn't like her to miss a meal. If anything, she would be early! Sakura led me to our table and I sat quietly, waiting for the food. After lunch (I had a mango lunch- anything and everything mangoes...they are soo yummy!), I met up with Nathan outside.

"Hey," he said, coming up to me. "What are doing for your afternoon class?"

"Gardening," I said happily. "My garden in going to be just inside the forest and I already have it all planned out!"  
"When did you have time to plan your garden?" asked Nathan, confused.

"Remember when you tapped me on the shoulder in the armoury?" Nathan nodded. "That's when. I was bored, so I designed my garden." I sighed. "But I had to scale it down. My space is limited." I frowned. "Stupid limitation".

Nathan must have noticed my frown. "Do you need any help?"

I hesitated. "Well..." It might be nice to have him move stuff, but gardening is kinda my own thing. I like being one with my plants. Nathan picked up on my indecision.

"Oh wait!" he snapped his fingers. "I forgot, I have a class!" I smiled at him. If he didn't say that he "needed to go", I wouldn't have been able to say no to him. "Okay, have fun!" He smiled back and waved. "See ya later!" After he walked away (and after I put Miroslava in my cabin), I skipped over to my tree, the one I hugged the other day. Praying there was a nymph in it, I knocked on the little tree. "Hello?"

"You know there's not a nymph living in that tree," a girl's voice said behind me. I whirled around, startled. "Oh, um, yeah, okay, thank you," I stuttered, staring at the girl. She was around my age and height, with brown hair and green chlorophyll eyes. "Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm Maple," Maple said, rolling her eyes. "Why did you knock on that tree?"

I blushed. "I hugged it the other day and I wanted to know if there was a nymph in it that wanted to help me plant my garden." Maple brightened. "I'll help!" she said enthusiastically. "If you'll have me, that is," she added sadly.  
"Of course I'll have you! Why wouldn't I?" I asked, confused. "Let's go to my plot!" Maple smiled and pushed off her tree. "By the way, what's your name?"

"Sorry." I blushed. "Delilah, but everyone calls me Lilah." Maple nodded. "Okay Lilah. Where's your plot?"

"Hold on, Sakura gave me a map." I searched my pockets. "Here it is!" I said proudly, holding it up. I opened it up and was lost. I flipped it the other way, and it still didn't make sense. I could fee Maple staring at me. "Do you want help?" she asked. "No! I can get it!" I growled at the map for five more minutes before giving in and handing it to Maple. She glanced at it, flipped it, and pointed right. "We need to go that way."

"Okay," I sighed. "Good thing you're here Maple, otherwise I'd've been lost forever!" Maple grinned. "Nah, sooner or later a nymph would take pity on you and help you out." We talked while Maple led the way to my plot.  
"And here we are!" Maple announced at a seemingly random spot. "Um, okay," I said, confused. It was a sort of circle, with lots of weeds and underbrush. "We have a lot of work to do," I sighed. Maple nodded. "Where do you want to start?"

"Um, I guess here weeding, and then working our way around the circle." I shrugged. "I'll take the left, you take the right?" Maple shrugged and we got down to work. Forty-five minutes later, all the weeds were gone, and the circle actually looked like a circle. It was about 100 feet in diameter, with trees on the edges and an island in the direct middle with a ten-foot trench surrounding it. "That didn't take long, did it?" I said happily, dusting off my hands. "Now for the stone pathway and benches and gazebo..." Maple raised an eyebrow. "How are you going to get that stuff here?"

I grinned, a little evilly I thought. "Hermes." I had already thought this through and had gotten ahold of a golden drachma to contact Hermes, via Iris message. I took out a small prism to make a rainbow and threw the drachma into it, saying, "O Iris, goddess of rainbows, accept my offering. Hermes." A second later, Hermes appeared, eating a BigMac. "What's the big deal, huh? I'm on my break!" he complained. "Why is it always my break?" he muttered. "Now, be nice to these demigods," Martha scolded. "Hello, I'm Martha, Hermes' favorite snake."

"Yeah, maybe they have rats for us!" George said. "Hey! I'm his favorite!" Hermes sighed. "You're both my favorite, stop arguing." I stared at the message in confusion. "Who are George and Martha?" I asked Maple quietly. "The snakes on his caduceus," she whispered back. Snakes? Uh oh. After the amphis-thing, I didn't really like them. And I didn't like them before.

"Anyways, what can I do for you?" Hermes said, interrupting Martha. I grinned. "Can you get stones about yay big," I demonstrated with my hands. "For my winding stone pathway, a couple stone benches, a white gazebo, a small willow tree, and flower packets for my garden?" I asked, after listing off all the flowers I wanted.

"Sure. But you'll have to pay me," Hermes shrugged, finishing his hamburger. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Yes!" I shouted, hugging Maple. "Mission accomplished!" Maple hugged me back and then quickly let go. "But how are you going to pay for it?"

"Good question," I frowned. I only had a few more drachmas, and I'm pretty sure that wouldn't cut it. "Maybe I can make a golden leaf?" Maple looked at me skeptically. "A golden leaf? How are you going to do that?"

"Like this!" I said, picking a leaf off of a tree. I held it in both hands, concentrating on making it turn golden. I was still concentrating on it when I heard a loud _thunk_. "Where do you want this stuff?" a loud voice asked. I snapped my head up, breaking my concentration. "Um, just here for the stones and flowers, but the gazebo in the center of the trench circle thing, with the bridge tight there," I gestured where i wanted the gazebo and bridge. "And the willow tree by me too."

Hermes, in a silver track suit and a mischievous smile, snapped his fingers and everything magically appeared where I wanted it. "That would be a total of 15 drachmas."

"Well, here's four, and a golden leaf that I made. How much left so I owe?" I asked nervously. I wasn't sure my plan would work... "Hm, you made it yourself?" Hermes pondered, holding the leaf up to the light. "Probably worth about five or six drachmas, it's a big leaf. So, five drachmas you owe." I nodded and rushed to hug him. "What?" he grunted, holding me. "I don't have the last five drachmas, so I'm paying you in hugs!" I explained."Alright, you can stop now," Hermes said, pushing me away. "That's about five drachmas."

"Okay," I smiled as I pulled away. "Well, never been paid that way before," Hermes muttered to himself. Maple gaped at me. "You...just hugged...Hermes."

"Yup!" I grinned. I love hugs! "Thank you for delivering on such short notice." Hermes nodded. "That's what I'm known for. You welcome, and have fun." Hermes gave us a salute and took off. I turned to Maple. "Wanna help me lay out the pathway?"

"Sure," she shrugged. Laying out the path took a half an hour, just because the stones were so heavy. Then, we laid out the flower beds along the path and gazebo and put the benches around the gazebo, looking over the empty trench, which took several hours. At last we were done, except for the empty trench, which needed water and some fish. "There," I clapped my hands together, getting rid of the extra dirt. "All done 'cept for the water, but I need Marina for that. And the fish," I added thoughtfully.

"Finally," Maple sighed, sitting on a bench. "You are very picky." I blushed. "I know, sorry." Maple grinned at me. "Nah, I'd be the same way." A horn blew in the distance. "Oh, that's dinner," she said sadly. "You have to go now."  
"Come with me to dinner!" I begged. I didn't want to leave my new friend. "I want you to meet my other friends!" Maple hesitated. "Okay then."

"Yay!" I hugged her happily. "Come on, let's go!" I grabbed her arm and we ran to the pavilion. Everyone was already there, so we crept in quietly, sitting down at my table. Everything was going fine until dessert. I heard a voice scream, "NOO! NOT MY DESSERT!" I sighed. That had to be Ellie. No one would make that much of a fuss over dessert. When Maple and I got there, a crowd had already formed. I found Marina, Autumn, And Toni, and stuck by them as they pushed their way through.

"Ellie! You know better!" I shook my finger at her. Autumn high-fived her, Toni was trying not to laugh, and Marina was trying to tell her off, telling her to apologize. I prodded Ellie too, telling her to tell Niall sorry. Apparently, she tackled him when he tried to steal her dessert. "No," she said stubbornly. "He stole my food." I gave her my best Look, and she caved. She took the 3 steps over to him and shuffled her feet. I smiled to encourage her, but I don't think she noticed.

"I'm sorry for tackling you. You can have the of my dessert," Ellie said, looking down. After that, they made up, Ellie glomping Niall. I smiled happily. They would get along fine now. I turned back to find Maple, to introduce her to my friends, but I couldn't find her. _Huh_, I thought. _Maybe she's shy?_ I turned back to my friends, to notice that the crowd was gone, Ellie and Niall were eating all the desserts, and Marina, Autumn, and Toni were staring at them. "Do you wanna bet how much they'll eat?" offered Autumn. "No," the rest of us said loudly. Who knew how much they could eat together? Watching them eat, I wondered where Maple went. I decided to go find her, so I hugged Autumn, Toni, and Marina good night. Marina smiled at me. "After dinner tomorrow want to get us all together?"

"Yeah, let's do it!" I exclaimed, hugging her again. "See you at breakfast tomorrow!" I skipped off to find Maple, to her tree, and there she was, siting in front of it. "Why'd you leave?" I asked curiously. "I never got the chance to introduce you to my other friends."

Maple shrugged. "Nervous, I guess. I don't really like crowds." I nodded. "Oh. Maybe tomorrow, just us?" Maple looked up and smiled. "Yeah, that sounds okay."

"Great! See you tomorrow!" I said, giving her a hug. "I gotta go, good night!" I left Maple by her tree in a good mood. I got a mace, planted my garden, and made new friends. I stopped to pick a lily, smelling it. Today was a pretty good day.

And done! 2 month anniversay! Yay! Sorry for the wait, writers block and no Internet access does that to a person. Have a wonderful summer! (I won't quit writing, by the way, but it'll probably be slow.) Please review! :)


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